Longhorn SHARE Project

The application is NOW OPEN for students interested in becoming SHARE Peer Support Specialists, beginning with training in Spring 2022.

What is Peer Support?

Peer support is not the same thing as peer mentorship, peer education, or clinical counseling! Those are valuable roles that can share some characteristics with peer support, but the ‘participants’ and ‘facilitators’ in peer support spaces typically have similar lived experience(s) with mental health, recovery, identity, and/or trauma and freely share their emotions, struggles, ideas, and healing processes with each other. Peer facilitators simply have more training to ensure that these conversations are healthy, safe, and nonjudgmental.

Peer support minimizes the power imbalances and formal structures that can make other types of support feel intimidating, inaccessible, and/or too clinical for all needs. Peer support isn’t a replacement for therapy (peers are not licensed professionals) but it can be therapeutic and validating to be share space with someone who “gets it”. It’s also a great way for students to build social confidence & emotional awareness, learn about themselves and others, and get information about other resources when peer support isn’t enough.

INTERESTED?? Program Overview & Activities

Participation in the Longhorn SHARE Project is a three-semester commitment – one semester to develop peer support skills followed by two semesters of on-campus peer activities.

Spring 2022: Learning & Skill-Building

  • HED 370K: Foundations of Peer Support & Social Wellness
    • Course content will cover common mental health and social concerns of students; active listening, group facilitation, and other interpersonal skills; how to create accessible, trauma-aware, anti-oppressive spaces; how to respond in a crisis and set healthy emotional boundaries, and more!
  • Mental Health First Aid training & certification (one 8-hour training on a weekend)

Fall 2022 – Spring 2023: Peer Support Activities

  • Group check-ins & skills practice – 1 hr/week
  • Peer Support Activities – Variable, up to 4 hrs/week. May include the following:
    • Co-facilitating a peer support group on a topic of your choice
    • Meeting with students individually to listen, share resources, and problem-solve
    • Leading workshops or one-time discussion circles
    • Offering support during campus events containing sensitive or intense content
    • Others TBD!

Who We’re Looking For:

  • Students from any UT major or field of study – graduate or undergraduate!
  • Must not intend to graduate until Spring 2023 or later.
  • Prior work or leadership experience (especially in mentorship, tutoring, or other peer-based leadership roles) is desirable, but not required.
  • You don’t need to have it “all together” to apply for this program! Folks who have been through hard things (e.g. mental health struggles, trauma, recovery, ableism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, surviving violence or difficult family dynamics, grief, impostor phenomenon, etc.) have wisdom and experience that could benefit others a peer support setting and help reduce stigma.
  • A GPA of 2.5 or higher is recommended, but not required.