Peer Support Program FAQs
Find quick answers to common questions about our flagship Peer Support Australia Program, and how it can help build whole school student wellbeing.
The Peer Support Program is an 8-week program delivered in primary and secondary schools across Australia.
The program involves senior students being trained as Peer Leaders and leading groups of younger students. The program fosters students’ wellbeing by nurturing peer relationships, empowering students to take on leadership roles, and enabling all students to learn and practise transferable life skills that will support their mental health and wellbeing now and into the future.
The Peer Support Program offers a variety of modules tailored for primary and secondary schools. Schools can choose which module to run during the 8-week program. Modules cover topics resilience, relationships, optimism, and anti-bullying.
Additionally, there are extra resources and activities available to support the program and foster peer relationships, which can be used with students at any time throughout the year.
The program covers social and emotional skills and wellbeing topics.
High schools usually run one program module in Term 1, over 8 consecutive weeks, to help with the transition of Year 7 students. High schools usually train their Peer Leaders in Term 4 before starting their sessions the following school year.
Primary schools typically train their Peer Leaders in Term 1 ready to implement Peer Support sessions in Term 2 or Term 3. Schools also run Peer Support activities at other times throughout the year.
The program is run annually, and schools can choose a different module each year.
There are supplementary Peer Support resources to help reinforce the module lessons and continue to build peer relationships across the year.
Visit the members’ dashboard and check out the Additional Resources section where you can find more activities and mini-modules to run at your school.
These are available to Peer Support schools as part of the annual membership.
Schools need a membership and an accredited Peer Support Coordinator to license the Peer Support Program. Any teacher who attends a Peer Support Implementation Workshop is accredited for three years to implement and run the program. Schools need to maintain an annual membership to access the program resources and the licensing rights to use them. The membership and accreditation status of your school is detailed in the Accounts section of your Membership Dashboard.
You can also read more about how a Peer Support membership works here.
You will learn how to plan and run the program at our Peer Support Implementation Workshop. The first step is to register your school for Peer Support. Join the program here. You will be invited to join a workshop when you register your school. We recommend that more than one teacher attends training. The introductory package for new schools includes Peer Support Coordinator training and Peer Support membership for your school. You can find out more about the steps to running Peer Support here.
The Peer Support Program is suitable for both primary schools and high schools. The program materials are tailored for primary schools and high schools. You can preview the program resources for primary schools here, and for secondary schools here.
The current fee to join and run Peer Support is $1,100 (incl GST). This covers Peer Support Coordinator training which is valid for three years, and the first year of your school’s membership, which includes access to the program resources and licence. You will be invited to renew your membership annually which is currently $275 (incl GST) per year. The annual membership gives you continued online access to the program resources, licensing rights, and any support from our Wellbeing Education Consultants as needed.
You can register your school for the Peer Support Program here.
A two-hour online Peer Support Implementation Workshop for one participant is included in the joining fee for new schools. The joining fee for new schools is $1,100 (incl GST).
When you register your school for Peer Support, you have the option of upgrading to a one-day workshop delivered face-to-face for an additional $220 (incl GST). You can also book in additional teachers for $330 (incl GST) per teacher (online) or $550 (incl GST) (face-to-face). We strongly recommend new schools train more than one teacher to better embed Peer Support into your school culture.
New schools can find out more about how to join Peer Support here.
The fee for current members is $550 (incl) per participant for our one-day face-to-face workshop, and $330 (incl GST) per participant for our two-hour online workshop. Member schools can book into a workshop here when logged into your account.
This training is valid for three years, meaning your Peer Support Coordinator will be accredited to implement and run the program for three years at any Peer Support member schools.
Your school can join Peer Support as a new member.
This introductory package enables you to plan and run your Peer Support Program again. Find out how to join here. The new school package includes training for your Peer Support Coordinator, which is valid for three years. It also includes the first year of school membership, which provides access to and licensing of the program resources and supporting materials. You will be invited to renew your membership annually for continued use of the program materials.
Yes. You need to attend a Peer Support Implementation Workshop to learn how to plan and run the program. This provides you with Peer Support accreditation for three years.
You will also have the opportunity to network with other schools at various stages of implementation. Some schools will have been using the program for many years, some will be new to the program. You will also receive a login to the Member Dashboard where you can access the program resources and other member content.
Find out more about the Peer Support Implementation Workshops here.
The Peer Support Implementation workshop is accredited with the ACT Teacher Quality Institute. The workshop counts towards 5 hours of professional development. In NSW, Peer Support Australia’s Implementation workshop can be counted as elective professional development hours with NSW Education Standards Authority’s (NESA) Elective PD criteria. Please contact us for further information.
The Peer Support Program is a preferred NSW Department of Education provider of wellbeing programs for both resilience and sense of belonging. We are an endorsed program on the SA Department for Education External Wellbeing Programs Directory.