Courageous people and communities around the world are fighting to make rights and justice universally possible. But they face attacks and reprisals from powerful vested interests. The constant threat of physical, digital or psychological harm places advocates and activists at great risk of burnout, stress, and trauma. The impacts transcend our work, rippling out to create fear and anxiety in our daily lives, for our families, and within our communities.

Against this backdrop, the laudable but unsustainable culture of self sacrifice within environmental and social movements must be addressed. We can start to view acts of personal resilience as acts of resistance!

Peers supporters (sometimes known as wellbeing focal points) can play an important role in encouraging this shift. They are team members trained to take on an informal role supporting the wellbeing and resilience of their co-workers and fellow activists in addition to their usual responsibilities.

Peer supporters provide an empathetic and confidential environment where individuals can talk about stress or personal circumstances that are impacting their wellbeing. They provide basic social, practical, and emotional support for ongoing stress and trauma as well as in the aftermath of critical incidents.

Open Briefing has been delivering the peer support training programme and helping organisations set up their own peer support programmes. However some organisations cannot resource a full programme, and in wanting to support movements and grassroots organisations in 2024 we launched this open programme for peer support training. Following successful cohorts last year, we are running new cohorts to meet demand.

This remote programme will support staff members or activists who are interested in acting as a peer supporter within their organisation or movement. Over two months, participants will receive training and support to help them champion wellbeing and resilience within their workplace/collective or campaign and support colleagues/individuals who are in emotional distress.

This programme is open to representatives from foundations, nonprofits, and grassroots groups and movements agitating and advocating for rights and justice.

Programme description

Our trainers will combine facilitated discussions, role plays, presentations, self-reflection, and experiential learning to help participants develop the skills and competencies they need to:

• Champion a workplace culture that values wellbeing and resilience.
• Provide an empathetic and confidential environment that supports peers and colleagues to talk about stressors they face in the workplace.
• Provide support and information on basic stress reactions and positive coping strategies to individual colleagues in distress.
• Provide Psychological First Aid following a security incident or traumatic event.
• Know when and how to signpost colleagues to other sources of organisational, professional, psychological, or medical support.

The training will be trauma informed and will focus on destigmatising poor wellbeing and emphasising the cultural aspects of stress and healing and collective wellbeing. The training runs over seven two-hour workshops. We will then provide each participant with a one-hour one-to-one coaching session to help them prepare for the final course assessment. The course assessment will consist of participants delivering a 20-minute presentation to the training team on a wellbeing topic of their choice and discussing their reflective journal (of up to four pages). Successful participants will receive a certificate of accomplishment from Open Briefing at the end of the programme.

Benefits for participants and their organisations

At the end of the training, participants will be able to demonstrate that they can:

• Explain the impact of stress and other mental health conditions.
• Develop strategies for promoting wellbeing in the workplace and community.
• Describe signs and symptoms of stress in self and others.
• Use active listening skills for supportive conversations with colleagues in distress.
• Recognise the common reactions following a critical incident (including signs of trauma and vicarious trauma).
• Use evidence-informed techniques for responding to a colleague in distress following a critical incident.
• Provide relevant and useful information to a colleague in distress, including following a critical incident.
• Identify when and how to signpost a colleague to relevant services.
• Demonstrate understanding of the scope, boundaries, ethics, and practicalities of the peer supporter role.
• Manage own stress and nurture personal resilience.

Training hours

• This programme consists of 24 hours of training, coaching, and learning on peer support, including:
• 14 hours of remote workshops.
• 8 hours of personal learning (pre-reading, practices in between sessions, and producing a reflective journal).
• 1 hour of coaching.
• 1-hour assessment.

How to Apply:

To register for the training programme, fill in the form below

Open Briefing Peer Support Training Programme Registration Form