Peer Support in Action
ABC: Peer Counselling at Elliott Durham School
The ABC (Anti Bullying Campaign) was established at Elliott Durham School in the Autumn of 1995. The first counsellors were trained and were 'ready for business' by February 1996. Eighteen months later, the second group of counsellors has become established and has been dealing with cases since training was completed in December 1996. Five more would-be counsellors began their training in November 1997: the sucessful ones will be the "third generation".
Elliott Durham School is an inner city 11-16 comprehensive serving an area of social need in Nottingham. Over the years, bullying has never been a major problem, but the existence has been acknowledged. ABC was inspired by the BBC TV documentary featuring Acland Burghley School in Camden, London and a subsequent visit to that school was made by Robin Tinker, Head of PSE and the school EP (Educational Psychologist), Derek Wilson. The latter joined forces with Meryl Salt, a professional counsellor, to deliver the training.
The service offered is confidential and counsellors are responsible for all aspects of the scheme, including publicity in and outside the school, organizing interviews with clients, having a key to the ABC room, and unlimited access to the school on ABC business. They are supported by staff at a weekly supervision meeting, where cases and any other ABC business are discussed in a mutually supportive atmosphere. Great emphasis is placed on the value of teamwork in this organization, and a great feature of the scheme is the way that counsellors have supported each other and have been willing to give up considerable amounts of time to make ABC work. Counsellors have spoken to school assemblies, tutor groups, met with prospective parents and pupils from local feeder schools and have featured in the local press.
In July last year, three ABC counsellors, Louise Brown, Natasha Mighten and Michael Blackham led the County in-service training event "Peer counselling as an anti-bullying strategy", which generated a lot of interest. ABC will feature in a book about Elliott Durham, and they also have their own site on the World Wide Web where you can see photographs of the counsellors and read about their work. All of this is, of course, on top of their direct work with their clients and in some cases, the bullies themselves. A survey in March 1997 overwhelmingly confirmed support from both staff and pupils. Since February 1996, ABC has handled some 47 cases involving 62 pupils who sought help.
Robin Tinker and Terry Whysall, who are the contact persons for ABC, now feel in a position to network with any other schools who are thinking of setting up a similar scheme. You can contact them at:
Elliott Durham SchoolRansom drive
Mapperley
Nottingham NG3 3BG
Telephone: 0115 9523838
Fax: 0115 9523898
Web site: http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~northolmer/
e-mail: northolmer@ndirect.co.uk
What the Peer Supporters Have to Say at Elliott . . . .
Louise Brown (13) has been a counsellor for over a year, and says she wanted the job because "I wanted to help people, both the victims and the bullies. At ABC we don't promise to solve problems, it's just another way of helping people to tell about their bullying problems".
Imran Dar (16) hasn't had so many cases but he says that it is vital for the peer supporters to work as a team and also support each other. "At the weekly supervision meetings, we discuss our cases confidentially", he says. "Even though I've only had a couple of cases in the last year, I think that I've been able to give advice and suggestions to other peer supporters, and all of us have been involved in publicity and meeting with parents and children of our feeder schools".
Michael Blackham (16) adds: "One of the most nerve wracking things is having to speak about ABC in front of the whole school in assembly. And I never thought that I would be able to stand up in front of 20 teachers when we presented our course in July".
Aaron Birchall (14) joined because "my friend was being bullied, and I wanted to help him",
while Natasha Mighten (14) adds "I used to be a bully, and I have been picked on myself. ABC helps pupils who don't want to tell teachers because it's grassing".
Head Teacher Kathy Yates is delighted with the scheme. "ABC has received enormous publicity and acclain throughout the whole County. We put a lot of trust in our counsellors, and we know they won't let us down".
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