By Pearl Nganga

The Peer Educators and Counselors Club (PECC) was invited to Nova Pioneer Boys High School Tatu on Saturday July 20 to continue their long-term partnership. This time, the club members were invited to facilitate a mentorship session with Form Two students and conduct a full-day peer counseling training for their Peer Support Club. 17 PECC Club members volunteered to facilitate both sessions and were accompanied by PECC’s patron, Ms. Lydia Winda–Senior Counselor who offered guidance and trained the team in preparation for the two activities.

The main aim of the mentorship session was to facilitate a discussion with the Form Two students focused social emotional intelligence and managing negative peer influence. The team was able to unpack both topics skillfully, listened to the opinions of the students on these matters, and offered guidance in a manner that would enable each student to adequately navigate negative peer pressure and learn how to look out for the well-being of their peers. The Form Two students were able to receive psychological support for their concerns, and the issues raised were reported to the school counselor at Nova.

The Peer Counseling Training on the other hand ran for the whole day. The team trained on various topics that tied to the students’ holistic growth as peer counselors. The topics covered included the roles of a peer counselor, peer counseling skills, boundaries in peer counseling, life skills as a peer counselor, and self-care as a peer counselor. The team facilitated exceptional presentations, where they engaged the students on each of the topics covered, and educated them further on the various ways that they could improve their skills as peer counselors and care for their own well-being in the process. The members of Nova Pioneer’s Peer Support Club learnt invaluable lessons on peer counseling, and raised insightful questions during the course of the presentations. The trainers were able to grow their planning, team work, class room management and presentation skills through this initiative.

Overall, the trip to Nova Pioneer Boys’ High School was a success. All the students in the training developed their skills, learnt more about themselves, and gained insights into how to care for themselves and others. PECC members on the other hand, increased their presentation and training skills. PECC would like to thank Nova Pioneer for its commitment to the partnership and looks forward to future collaborations with the institution.