Schools are not only spaces for academic learning but also a critical environment where students develop emotional awareness, build relationships, and understand the social environment. Peers play a central role in providing emotional support, acceptance, reassurance, during childhood and adolescence. Peers foster a sense of belonging and help children and adolescents feel seen and valued. This highlights the importance of peer support within school settings.
Students today face a range of psychosocial challenges that significantly affect their emotional well-being and mental health. These include academic pressure, bullying and peer pressure, low self-esteem, identity confusion, social anxiety, loneliness, family conflict, emotional regulation difficulties, social media pressures, body image concerns, grief and loss, and early symptoms of anxiety and depression. The school environment plays a significant role where these emotional struggles can be identified and addressed. In reality, many students hesitate to seek help from teachers/ adults due to stigma or fear of being misunderstood.
Why peer support matters
Peer support plays a critical role in addressing this challenge. It involves training, identifying and training emotionally resilient children to listen actively and respond with empathy to offer appropriate support. When a peer support system is embedded within the school environment, they create safe spaces for emotional expression, reduce mental health stigma, and offer immediate first aid for emotional support.
How school can strengthen peer support
To strengthen peer support, schools must adopt a structured and supervised approach. This includes identifying emotionally resilient students, providing systematic training, and integrating peer support into the school’s overall mental health framework.
Teachers and school counsellors play a vital role in supporting and supervising peer supporters and ensuring timely referral to professional help by developing a SOP for escalation. They provide ongoing support through regular check-ins, supervision meetings, and skill-building sessions, helping peer supporters reflect on their experiences and enabling communication between the peers and the adults teachers and school staff.
Recent incidents of student suicide in New Delhi at a renowned school underscores the urgent need for preventive mental health measures in schools. Peer support systems can enhance connectedness, reduce isolation, and promote early intervention. Well-designed peer support programs can significantly strengthen school mental health by fostering empathy, resilience, and shared responsibility.
We offer technical assistance to schools to set up peer support system and offer experiential training to peer volunteers.
Our peers offer an empathetic 30 minute listening support to those who are looking for one to one support at a low cost.