Senior Peer Consellors are trained volunteer non-professional counsellors who provide active listening, emotional support and empathy with life-style changes. They offer encouragement towards self help and exploration of choices.
Volunteer counsellors provide compassionate listening and encouragement to help people get more in touch with their own feelings, gain a clearer understanding of their situations and difficulties, and make the decisions necessary to solve their own problems.
Volunteers must successfully complete a 40 hour comprehensive training course accredited by the Association of Senior Peer Counsellors of British Columbia prior to assisting clients. They will apply their newly acquired skills by visiting their peers once a week until the issue is resolved.
Clients who use the service have stated that the understanding and the support from the Counsellor have greatly assisted them in difficult situations.