SAD 4, UMaine begin peer counseling pilot program

By Bill Pearson
Staff Writer

    GUILFORD — SAD 4 and the University of Maine have teamed up to provide Piscataquis Community elementary and secondary students a trained peer to help them deal with challenging school and family-life issues. The two institutions have partnered to begin a Peer Counseling Pilot Program at the Guilford-based school system to provide distressed youths with someone who they can discuss bullying, teen drug and alcohol abuse or other problematic life issues.

Observer photo/Bill Pearson

    PEER COUNSELING — Piscataquis Community Secondary School guidance counselor, left Mr. Steeves, and technology coordinator Mr. Riitano discusses the peer counseling program with high school students, Mariah Priest, second from left, Jamie Libby, Danielle Spaulding and Jacob Campbell, second from right, about the program. Nine PCHS students were selected to participate in the program designed to provide elementary and secondary school students a peer to talk to about their problems. The program is believed to be the first of its kind where high school students receive college-level teen counseling instruction at a state university.

    The University of Maine’s counselor education program is the sponsor of a three-part workshop series which trains nine Piscataquis Community High School students to become certified peer counselors. The program is designed to create an open line of communication between at-risk students in the elementary and secondary schools with an older student. Educational officials believe students are likely to discuss troubling issues more readily with someone who they view as a peer rather than an adult authority figure.
    SAD 4 selected the peer counselors last fall to begin what is believed to a first of its kind program where high school students are trained by a state university to deal with teen issues. PCSS officials received recommendations from the high school faculty who chose juniors: Kayla Desmarais, Jacob Campbell, Danielle Spaulding, Jamie Libby, Chelsea Baillargeon, Danica French and Spencer Martell; and sophomores: Anthony Gray and Mariah Priest as the pilot program’s group of initial peer counselors.
    The nine student counselors have completed two of their three training sessions at the Orono campus. The teen counselors are trained to handle confidential information, deal with their mentees on an individual basis, and how to read a person’s body language. The training also develops the peer counselors’ skills through exercises in role playing, building rapport and honing their listening skills.
    The first training was held in December and the students completed their second session on March 13. A final session is expected to be scheduled later this spring. So far, the PCHS teen counselors have found their mentoring roles to be rewarding.
    “I love it,” said Spaulding. “We talk about what’s going on in their lives. It gives us a chance to see what’s going on and consider how to work toward making their situation better.”,
    The program was initiated after a discussion between PCSS guidance counselor Eric Steeves and his student intern. Ben Thelwell is a University of Maine graduate student in the education counselor program. He is interning at PCSS and turned to Steeves to help him with a class project.
    Thelwell was assigned to develop a student-based advocacy project for his graduate program class. Steeves proposed developing a peer counseling program based on similar programs in other Maine high schools. Steeves indicated when he worked at two previous high schools in the Millinocket-area which had a similar program, but without  the college level training component.
    Steeves and Thelwell believed, if the peer counseling program had the added element of being trained by college-level instructors in dealing with teen problems, it could make a significant contribution to the school. Thelwell submitted the proposal to his college professors who quickly embraced the project. The university’s Education Counsel department devised the pilot program with the intent of laying the groundwork for a future research study.
    “The university’s faculty viewed this as a new and unique program. The pilot program has the potential to combat teen bullying and other disciplinary problems in schools,” Thelwell said. “Students of all ages are hesitant to talk about their problems with school officials. The program provides for those students to talk with someone whom they feel more comfortable and also has been trained to deal with sensitive youth and teen issues.”
    The pilot program began only a few months ago, but it has already started to expand. The program has enlisted three more local high schools. Students from Penobscot Valley, in Howland; Katahdin, in Stacyville; and Schenck are now participating in the UMaine led training.