Peer Support

What is Peer Support?

At its core, Peer Support is when people with lived and living experience come together to support each other. The goal of a Peer Support relationship is not to fix or save – but rather walk alongside someone on their journey, offering hope, support, and empowerment.

Our Goal

The VDRC’s goal is to provide and promote opportunities for people with disabilities to share information, ideas, life experiences and skills. We believe that it is through the context of a supportive peer environment that individuals can gain the skills and self-confidence needed to overcome barriers and learn to better manage personal and community resources.

Benefits of Peer Support

Living with a disability can be a very isolating experience. Getting involved with Peer Support can offer many benefits:

• Reducing social isolation that persons with disabilities often face due to physical barriers and societal misconceptions
• Connecting persons with lived and living experience to their peers, reducing feelings of aloneness when facing barriers in the community
• Enabling persons with lived and living experiences to share and learn from one another
• It increases the ability to navigate life with a disability and become better integrated into the community
• One-to-one Peer Support can help build confidence and overcome shyness/social anxiety to be able to participate in larger peer groups
• It can support individuals in planning and achieving self-identified goals

Peer Support is a great way to start getting out of your comfort zone and forming connections with members of the persons with disabilities community. These connections can lead to many positive outcomes, from newly gained knowledge on how to navigate various barriers to potential lifelong friendships!

For more information or to sign up for the program, please contact: 250-595-0044 ext. 112 peersupport@drcvictoria.com.

1:1 (one-to-one) Peer support

We offer 1:1 Peer Support at the VDRC, done by volunteers with lived experience. Peer Support volunteers at the VDRC have completed a 30 hour training course, and are supervised by the Peer Support Coordinator.

Complete this Google Form to access one–to-one peer mentorship: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdErU5jlXYFcTpmt3B3szI8CaI1iB-HfBbhckkxaVHBC-UxgQ/viewform?usp=header

You can also sign up via contacting contact: 250-595-0044 ext. 112 or peersupport@drcvictoria.com.

What can VDRC Peer Supporters help with?

Different organizations offer different things in Peer Support, which is why we’ve created this chart that clarifies the scope of Peer Support here at the VDRC.

Roles of a VDRC Peer Supporter

• Holding space for empathetic listening
• Having supportive conversations
• Providing relatability through disclosure of one’s own experience with disability or barriers
• Destigmatizing disability and building hope
• Helping identify goals and make plans to achieve them
• Potentially connecting peers to other resources within the VDRC (I&R, parking permit) or the community

Not a Role of a VDRC Peer Supporter

• Providing medical diagnoses
• Providing or giving advice on medications/medical treatments
• Accepting gifts from peers
• Lending or borrowing money
• Crisis intervention/Emergency response
• Advocacy on behalf of peer (accompanying to appointments, meetings, hearings, etc.)
• Giving advice or solving problems

Peer Mentorship Training Certificate Program

Are you part of the persons with disabilities community and passionate about supporting others? Would you like to learn how you can use your lived experience to support and help others?

Gain a certificate after completing this eight-week course, delivered as a hybrid model, both in-person and virtually here at the VDRC. The course consists of eight (8) 4-hour sessions, delivered once a week. Dates and times are determined by a survey to assess what works for  applicants. This course runs roughly 2-3 times a year. The curriculum for the Peer Mentorship Training Certificate Program is based off of the Where We Are At provincial peer support worker training curriculum.

Topics include:

• Introduction to Peer Support and Peer Support Wholeness
• Perspectives, Biases and Judgements
• Listening and Connecting, Self Determination Theory
• Self Determination
• Foundational Disability knowledge and discussion around social impacts & barriers
• Social Determinants of Health & Healing, Centred Principles in Trauma Informed Care
• Boundaries and What it Means to Co-create Them
• Goal Setting
• Grief, Addiction, Suicidality and Mental Wellness
• Building Personal Resilience

Regular participation in group discussions, and completion of some minor take-home materials are required to complete the course and receive a certificate.

To apply to take the training course, please click on the link and fill out the following form: https://forms.gle/Pb6zophXkoF9Yjir5

Should you have any questions about the certificate, please contact the Peer Support Coordinator at 250-595-0044, extension 112 or peersupport@drcvictoria.com.

This program was made possible by funding from the Greater Victoria Savings & Credit Union (GVSCU) Legacy Foundation.

Peer Outreach Program

The VDRC Peer Outreach Program is for anyone in the persons with disabilities community who is experiencing isolation, loneliness, and/or disconnectedness. By signing up for the program, you can look forward to regular one-on-one check-ins from one of our certified, friendly outreach workers, either in-person, by phone or virtually.

The Peer Outreach Program is designed to allow you to experience some much needed social interaction, as well as get reconnected with the greater community-at-large. Members of the program can set up scheduled check-ins with one of our outreach workers over several different platforms, including phone calls, email, texting, and video conferencing.

During these check-ins, you and the outreach worker can:

• Talk about how you have been coping with being isolated. If you have been feeling upset or depressed, feel free to chat about it and maybe develop some ideas or strategies on how this can be addressed.
• Identify areas that you need help with. If you are experiencing a problem related to your disability or being isolated, the outreach worker can help put you in contact with resources that could potentially help.
• Just talk. If what you are looking for is a friendly voice to chat with, the outreach worker can provide that too.

When people with disabilities feel socially connected, it encourages them to reach out to other community members and support each other, it increases their likelihood of having better mental health, and creates a sense of pride as they, in turn, help others. This is what creates a resilient community that can withstand hardships.

For more information or to sign up for the program, please contact: 250-595-0044 ext. 112 or peeroutreach@drcvictoria.com.

Or complete this Google Form to access one–to-one peer mentorship: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdErU5jlXYFcTpmt3B3szI8CaI1iB-HfBbhckkxaVHBC-UxgQ/viewform?usp=header

This program is supported in part by UWSVI Southern Vancouver Island

We acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia.