For more than 20 years, the Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation has been working with K-12 schools in Baldwin County, Alabama to provide the Peer Helpers Program — a comprehensive peer-to-peer prevention and support program, which operates with a cloud-based, online support tool.
The Peer Helpers Program builds knowledge, resiliency, and coping skills in all students, and empowers them to be emotionally, socially, behaviorally, and academically successful for a lifetime.
Who are Peer Helpers?
K-12 students, who have been taught core skills in order to help identify and support their at-risk classmates. They offer their fellow students encouragement and assistance with any challenges they may be facing. Peer Helpers serve as tutors, mentors, mediators, and advocates for their peers, and assist new students in transitioning between schools and communities.
Why are they important?
According to cdc.gov, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-34, and 1-in-5 youth (ages 13-18), lives with a mental health condition.
When a young person is experiencing a crisis, they typically reach out to their peers for support long before turning to an adult. The Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation is devoted to promoting the mental health of our youth, and empowering them to advocate for one another.
Explore this page to learn more about the PeerHelpers Program, and how you can implement it in your own school system.
The Program
Program Tiers
The PeerHelpers program consists of two components, which share accessibility and tracking through an online platform called the PeerHelpers Portal.
These components address Tier 1 (Prevention) and Tier 2 (Support) of the School-Based Mental Health Model.
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Program Background
Evidence Based
Peer Helpers is an evidence based program which improves school climate and culture, as well as meets the needs of individual students.
Check out the case studies and articles from our sister organization, Thriveway, to learn more.
Peer Helper Portal
Each component of the Peer Helpers Program includes curriculum and materials which are housed in our secure, cloud-based support tool, the Peer Helpers Portal.
The Peer Helpers Portal is where Coordinators and Peer Helpers log their support activities, and generate valuable reports to assess the impact of the program, and mental health needs of the students at each school.
Positive Youth Development
Peer Helpers is built on the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework. The PYD key principles include building on the strengths of young people, identifying risky behaviors early, and being proactive in addressing them.
This framework helps to promote and engage young people, while instilling leadership qualities in them.
Tier 1:
Prevention
Tier 1 is the school-wide, comprehensive prevention curriculum, addressed through P.A.T.H:
Prevention & Awareness for Total Health
P.A.T.H. is K-12 grade level curriculum that addresses all Alabama prevention mandates:
bullying, abuse, suicide, and drugs and alcohol
Lessons are scripted with handouts and activities.
They include an educator overview, and a letter for the parent.
Lessons are 20-30 minutes long.
They are designed to be taught by all educators across campus. Having lessons presented across campus to all students has been proven to improve school climate, as all teachers are engaged and use the same vocabulary when addressing topics outside of academic curriculum.
The P.A.T.H. curriculum is updated annually
to ensure information is current and relatable to youth.
Tier 2:
Support
Tier 2 seeks to identify and support at-risk students through our peer-to-peer support component, Peer Helpers.
Peer Support - Peer Helpers:
A diverse group of students, pulled together in a club or an accredited, elective class to be trained in communication, problem solving/coping, conflict resolution, and referral skills.
This program is led by two coordinators, usually teachers or counselors. Peer Helpers use their training to offer their fellow students support and assistance to handle the challenges they face in day-to-day life.
Peer Helpers can serve the school in a customized plan. However, roles typically include attendance support, mentoring, tutoring, and life event support.
Why is Peer Support important?
The concept of Peer Helping is based on the fact that when a young person is seeking help, validation or guidance, they turn to a peer first, and reach out to their parents much later, if at all. Therefore, we will continue to empower our youth to support one another, because they make the greatest positive impact.
If you are located in Baldwin County, Alabama, contact our team at The Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation today for the full program with support at no cost to your school.
If you are located outside of Baldwin County, contact ThriveWay today to request a quote or to learn more about Peer Helpers, and what it can do for your school.
The Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation has more than 20 years’ of experience with Peer Helpers Programs in public and private K-12 schools. With this level of experience and expertise, as well as state leadership on the issue of youth suicide, many schools and school systems desire to bring our Peer Helper Program into their organization.
As the demand continued to heighten, the Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation, who’s purpose is to fund and support Peer Helpers Programs in Baldwin County, AL, wanted to make this program available to others beyond our county. Because of this, our sister company, ThriveWay, was created.
The Peer Helpers Program was established with standards and a code of ethics, processes, and training, to ensure integrity and ease of implementation.
Instituting this program not only helps schools meet state mandates, but does so in an effective and efficient manner that truly touches the lives of our youth.
ThriveWay has packaged our Peer Helpers Program so that it is both readily available to schools and organizations in other districts, and fully supported as those new programs are established and developed.
The package includes training, curriculum, software, and an online supporting tool with technical support.
ThriveWay’s Peer Helper Portal is a cloud-based support tool that houses the program curriculum, resources, and activity logs. Program evaluation is done through the reporting tools in the Portal, which access the trending youth needs on each campus.
Baldwin County
Peer Helpers
Peer Helpers Jubilee
Every year, the JCMF provides our Baldwin County Peer Helpers with a student conference called the Peer Helpers Jubilee. Due to COVID, we are providing them a virtual Conference.
View GuidebookThe Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation provides training, funding, and support for Peer Helper programs in all Baldwin County Public elementary, intermediate, middle and high schools, and several private school systems.
The Foundation provides many things
for our local schools such as:
Training workshops for Coordinators
The multi-tiered curriculum for the program
Real time data tool with reporting, for school administrators
T-shirts and lanyards, for Coordinators and Peer Helpers to be identified
Registration, lodging, and substitutes for two Coordinators from each school, while they attend the National Peer Program Conference
Admission to the annual Peer Helper Jubilee for all Peer Helpers and Coordinators (includes event costs, speakers, lunch, transportation and substitute teachers)
Funds for each school to utilize during Peer Helpers training and meetings, as well as student outreach and support needs
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Peer Helpers of all ages confidentially listen to their classmates, and participate in school/community service projects. The program is tailored to the needs of each school. In general, Peer Helpers participate in these types of activities:
Elementary and intermediate school Peer Helpers welcome new students, lead kindness (anti-bullying) campaigns, present character education, and tutor younger students.
In addition to the above roles, middle school Peer Helpers may also mentor younger students, present bullying prevention and intervention information, and mediate disputes between fellow students.
High school Peer Helpers participate in the above activities, and also lead initiatives that address health/wellness, grief support, and the prevention of bullying/cyber-bullying, substance abuse, dropout, distracted driving, suicide and more.
Strickland Orthodontics is a proud supporter of the Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation.
Baldwin County Schools With Peer Helpers Programs
Testimonials
