We Live United column
   Teens being there for other teens is what the Peer program is all about.  Steve Walker, program manager, trains students in Wyandotte County high schools as Peer helpers through this United Way funded program.  The Peer program is sponsored by PACES, the Wyandotte County organization (previously part of Wyandot Center) that serves kids who are facing behavioral and emotional challenges.
   Walker said that a Peer helper’s role is not to solve other students’ problems or to give advice.  He explained, “It’s about listening for content, responses and feelings; encouraging conversations; and helping youth focus on decisions they might need to make in a crisis or difficult situation or to cope with issues they are facing.”
   Annually, Walker trains approximately 150 teenagers as Peer helpers.  The training equips students with listening skills and helps them bond with each other.  The students find they don’t always need to publicize their roles actively in the schools. Students seek them out, or the Peer helpers can sense a need.
   The Peer program dates to the late 1970s or early 1980s and has continued to be valued by students, faculty and school administration.  
   “Kids generally help their friends by listening,” Walker said.  “We help the kids learn how to focus the discussion.”
   If the fellow student has a problem that is too big for the Peer helper to handle (e.g., sexual abuse or threat of suicide), the Peer helper knows to refer the student to an adult associated with the program.  Walker is available as are sponsors at each school.
   Though the program has been active in all Wyandotte County high schools at some juncture, the schools currently participating in the Peer program include Bishop Ward High School, Bonner Springs High School, Turner High School and Washington High School.  A new group will be forming at Wyandotte High School this fall.  Walker hopes to re-enlist other high schools that have had Peer helpers in the past to rejoin the program.
   For more information about Peer training, contact Walker at 913-890-7920.  For information about PACES, visit www.paceswc.org.