Faculty Forum College Peer Counselor Teaching Modalities: Sequelae in the Life and Work of Graduates

This study examined extended influences of peer helping courses on graduates ’ self-reported experiences of interpersonal relationships, communication skills, and ongoing engagement with the training. The 109 participants included 49 college graduates who completed a peer counseling theory course, 47 graduated psychology concentrators who took a peer prac-ticum that included both theory and supervised practice, and a comparison group of 13 graduated psychology concentra-tors who took neither peer counseling course. Participants in both peer training courses reported continuing effects on their interpersonal relationships, communication skills, and engagement with the training, with greatest effects reported by the psychology concentrators in both peer training courses. The small comparison group provided additional perspective on these findings. Suggestions for future research are offered, including potential benefits of more widespread utilization of college peer counselor training and the need for further follow-up studies on those who have been trained as peer counselors. Keywords college peer counseling, aftereffects of peer counselor training, teaching communication skills in college, peer counseling for career planning Peer counselor training programs are increasingly viewed as useful components of academic and social university life. There is ample evidence in the literature that peer support is a successful and cost-effective form of prevention, as peers may uniquely understand one another (Brack, Millard, & Shah, 2008). Peer education and peer counseling have found a home in college academic and student services to address many issues, including violence prevention (Newto