Training Programmes

Anne worked with We Are Family to help us to develop peer supporter training for the volunteers in our adoption support community.  Anne listened carefully to our needs and was invested in helping us to get it right, showing flexibility as she guided us through the fundamentals of a peer support training programme.  The feedback from our first round of training has been overwhelmingly positive, with peer supporters not only feeling better equipped in their roles, but feeling that the training itself was a form of self-care and acted as a way of connecting them with others whilst also developing and honing their skills.  We are excited about continuing to work in partnership with Anne.      We Are Family’ Adoption Support Community, UK

Peer Support Training – Now available via zoom!

The Connect Peer Support Training Programme has been developed by Anne who has over forty years of peer support practice. It is informed by clinical practice and based on her Peer Support Manuals. However, while the core values of this Training remain the same, the structure and content are adaptable to many different settings, groups and needs. Connect Peer Support creates bespoke trainings in consultation with its clients.

Some of the key areas the Training Programme covers are:

• Confidentiality
• Effective questioning and listening skills
• Non-verbal communication
• Welcoming/ non-welcoming behaviours
• Assertive communication
• Family issues
• Cultural awareness
• Self-care
• Crisis awareness and suicide prevention education
• Limit-setting and referrals

For information or to set up a Peer Support Training, contact Connect Peer Support

For an information sheet about Peer Support training, click here.

Training for Peer Support Trainers – Now available via zoom!

The course is both didactic and experiential and includes:

• Research and theory behind Peer Support Programmes
• Ideas about how a Peer Support Programme can fit into your setting
• How to safeguard your peer supporters, those they support and your organisation
• Experiential sessions to understand the training material from both the trainer’s and the peer supporter’s perspective
• How to use feedback and facilitation skills for successful training
• Troubleshooting problematic group situations
• Top tips for successful training and supervision
• A certificate on completion of the course

In addition, Connect Peer Support offers a bespoke Training for Peer Support Trainers whereby the training is run within a particular organisation and is based on the needs of the group. For example, Connect Peer Support has recently run bespoke training for institutions including,  Jigsaw Thornbury, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow,  Action on Postpartum Psychosis, and will be running a training for Nottinghamshire Sexual Violence Support Services in September 2021

“Having undergone a number of programme and staff iterations, University of Glasgow decided to reconnect with Anne Ford’s Peer Support Training for Trainers. With the intention of quality assuring our existing Peer Support Programme at UofG, Anne expertly guided us through the key principles of her training manual. Over the course of an afternoon Anne underlined the importance of inclusivity, belonging and connection, whereby the true value of developing peer supporters is in the skills they learn above the number of interactions they create. Described as re-energising, this training opportunity from Anne Ford has affirmed our confidence in this innovative experience known in Glasgow as Peer Wellbeing Support.” Iain Brown, Peer Wellbeing Support Trainer, University of Glasgow, August 2021

For more information, contact Connect Peer Support

Training for Peer Support Trainers, University of Surrey, UK

“I attended Anne’s Training for Trainers of Peer Supporters. Anne is an engaging facilitator who guided us through the training with a skilful mix of experiential exercises, information giving, thought provoking questions and the benefit of her substantial experience of facilitating training. She’s passionate about peer support and this comes through in the quality of her delivery and her presence.” Kate Brady, Senior Counsellor, Centre for Wellbeing, University of Surrey

“I had the great pleasure of being part of a training with Connect Peer Support in early 2019. It was exceptionally thorough, and I left well-equipped to begin the task of establishing a Peer Support programme in my institution. Not only did we cover the “nuts and bolts” of training peer supporters, but we also thought carefully and in detail about the difficulties we might come up against in our organisations and how we might approach them.  Anne is an experienced, energetic and committed trainer, with a long-established relationship with Peer Support. Her dedication, belief and passion for Peer Support in universities is at the very heart of the training. I would have no hesitation about recommending this training, both in terms of the practical and informative side of establishing such a programme, but also as an exercise in self-discovery, which is attended to with delicacy and care.”  Jo Myddelton, Counsellor, Birkbeck, University of London

For more testimonials click here  Testimonials

Training for Peer Support Trainers – Three day training

Read Anne’s LinkedIn article on her reflections on Connect Peer Support Training for Peer Support Trainers: You are not alone: how Training for Peer Support Trainers promotes inclusivity, belonging and connection.

Day One – Setting up Peer Support in your Institution

Introduction to peer support

Core values in Peer Support

Peer Support Programmes – theory and practice

Key steps to setting up a peer support programme: What would a peer support programme look like in your institution and how would it function?

• Clarify aims of programme
• Needs assessment: how would peer support fit in your institution?
• Who are the key players in setting up and running a peer support programme.

Training

• Model
• Aims
• Needs

Day Two – Stepping into Peer Support

• Key Steps in setting up a Peer Support Programme – Revisited
• Confidentiality & Safeguarding in Peer Support
• Making connections in Peer Support
• Specialised groups within peer support
• Identifying challenges in peer support
• Application of training material to your institutional needs

Day Three – Making peer support work and taking it forward

• Experiential Training Sessions
• Crisis and Suicide Prevention Education in Peer Support
• Boundaries, Limit Setting and Signposting in Peer Support
• Effective Supervision (reflective practice)
• Staying motivated: energy, stamina, passion for and belief in peer support programmes from training through to supervision
• Self-care for Peer Support Trainers
• Troubleshooting

For more information, to set up a training for your institution or to book a place on a training:

For further information on Peer Support training, click here.