How Will you be More Employable by Becoming a Peer Wellbeing Supporter?
The Peer Wellbeing Support programme – both the training and role itself – equips students with a range of skills which may significantly improve employability. Now more than ever, emotional intelligence and self-awareness are essential to thrive in your future career.
The University of Glasgow aims to equip its students with a range of skills that will allow you to flourish in the world of work. In order to facilitate this, it has devised a list of graduate attributes that have been worked on across a number of different services within the university.
The role of a Peer Wellbeing Supporter links well into the list of graduate attributes, and particularly the transferable dimension, as detailed below.
1. Subject Specialist:
Ability to carry out peer wellbeing supporter role effectively through taking on board knowledge and skills gained in training. In the future, this will help you to work effectively with colleagues and to face challenges within your organisation.
2. Investigative:
Ability to signpost to other university services and use basic counselling skills. In the future, this will help you to make links within and outside your organisation, and to use these in a beneficial way.
3. Independent and Critical Thinkers:
Able to listen and think creatively in order to signpost to other services, and able to come up with innovative ways of publicising the service. In the future, this will help you to find your own solutions to organisational problems.
4. Resourceful and Responsible:
Able to take on board full scope of PWS training and display resilience to accommodate any personal issues that may arise. In the future, this will help you to overcome any setbacks that you may face in your career.
5. Effective Communicators:
Able to perform listening role well and to communicate understanding clearly to students. In the future, this will help you to work effectively with others and perform your role better.
6. Confident:
Able to be take charge of challenging situations and to have a positive impact on the lives of other students. In the future, this will help you to act in a decisive and confident way in times of difficulty and challenge.
7. Adaptable:
Able to perform the totality of the role, from taking on board training knowledge and skills to dealing with challenging situations that arise. In the future, this will help you to deal positively with times of change and uncertainty.
8. Experienced Collaborators:
Able to get on with and respect the views of other peer supporters, and able to work well together on collaborative projects. In the future, this will give you the confidence to know that you can work well alongside others.
9. Ethically and Socially Aware:
Know about the importance of boundaries and the need to escalate any concerns to a member of the PWS team. In the future, this will help you to know how to act in challenging situations that require a complex and thought-out response.
10. Reflective Learners:
Able to develop and practice reflective skills, both when working with other students and when considering their own experience as peer supporters. In the future, this will help you to resolve challenging situations by reflecting on previous experience.
Graduate Attributes associated with the Peer Wellbeing Support role