Word: peering
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Enter confidential peer counseling. Many of us here are loathe to discuss our insecurities publicly and would benefit greatly from a secure and protected environment in which to discuss questions or just voice uncertainties. Beyond the mundane and very real problems we all face, there are many who have been either a victim of or are somehow connected to traumas like date-rape, eating disorders or suicide. One would think that the peer counseling groups would be the most utilized and applauded organizations on campus...
Surprisingly, and somewhat disturbingly, the peer counseling groups are painfully under-utilized. Although most of the groups are open in some capacity throughout the night and are open the majority of days in the week, and Room 13 is open every night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., these groups rarely receive more than two visits or calls per night and often go a whole night without any interaction...
...seems unlikely that the source of this quiet on the peer counseling front is the unusually strong mental and psychological health of the Harvard community. We may be uber-students in many respects, but we still struggle with problems and deal with tragedy. Granted, there remains a social stigma attached to counseling in any form, even that non-threatening variety that comes from your peers. However, I believe that the root of the under-utilization of peer counseling groups stems from a more structural source...
...peer counseling groups have had a strange and somewhat destructive relationship with the University. Although one would expect the University to support the peer counseling groups heartily, given that these groups provide a necessary service to the very students the administration purportedly serves, the University has all but denuded the peer counseling groups of any organized outreach...
...history: In the dark ages before this year's seniors were involved with this esteemed institution, there was no system of mandatory outreaches. Peer counseling groups could poster to high heaven, but there was no structural way to reach the student population. Fortunately, upon realizing the inadequacy of this means of communication, the administration instituted a policy of mandatory outreaches that the seniors and juniors remember. The numbers of people dropping in and calling peer counseling groups rose markedly as a result...