Fostering Total Wellness through Peer Helping: Reflections on the SMU Experiences

• Main Authors: TAN, Gilbert, HSI, Timothy
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2005
• Subjects: Peer helping; Total Wellness; Higher Education; Singapore Management University; Asian Studies; Organizational Behavior and Theory; Student Counseling and Personnel Services
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/2844; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/3843/viewcontent/PeerHelpingpaper_taiwan3a.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Peer Helping is widely implemented in Colleges and Universities in the United States and Canada. Despite the popularity of these programs, very little has been researched on peer helping in the Asian context. This paper traces the theoretical foundations of peer helping and the nascent development of a peer helping program in the Singapore Management University and how this program has developed since the beginning of 2004. The initial focus of the program was based on the model of paraprofessional student counselors assisting their fellow peers through difficult moments in their lives. Over time, the program was fine-tuned to embrace the concept of “Total Wellness”. Based on these experiences, some practical guidelines are derived. The paper also identifies some possible future research directions vis-à-vis peer helping in the Asian context.