Hartwick College

 
Innovation Grant Funding
The Fifty-Fifty program is receiving funding to conduct a formal qualitative and quantitative evaluation. 

Overview
Fifty-Fifty:  A Peer Helping Service is a group of ten peer helpers, who are selected in a competitive search process, extensively trained by the campus counseling center staff, and  supervised in weekly meetings by full-time professional staff.  Peer helpers assist students with a variety of issues by listening, being supportive, and referring students to relevant campus offices and professionals while maintaining students’ confidentiality.  They also help the counseling center staff organize and run annual screening days for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance abuse. 

Fifty-Fifty acts as a preventive component of the total counseling program by assisting the undergraduate student population with low-level needs and freeing the two professional counselors to deal with more serious referrals.  Peer helpers put the professional counseling staff in contact with many students who may have otherwise neglected to get help.  As students often find it easier to talk with peers rather than professionals, Hartwick College has found that students’ access to peer helpers can avert crises because they have someone to talk to as issues arise. 

Program Activities
Fifty-Fifty peer helpers work approximately 10 hours per week, holding office hours from 6-9pm Sunday through Thursday, and 11am-2pm Monday through Friday.  They are also available to students via telephone calls and emails. 

The Application Process
Students interested in joining Fifty-Fifty apply for open positions in mid to late April.  Applicants are interviewed by returning Fifty-Fifty members and the counseling center staff.

Promoting Fifty-Fifty
Peer helpers attend freshman orientation to introduce themselves and tell new students about the program.  Each peer helper is paired with an on-campus residence hall and provides support to student resident advisors.  Peer helpers also write a weekly column in the school newspaper addressing common mental health problems on campus. 

Training and Supervision
Both new and returning peer helpers are required to attend a one-week training prior to the start of each academic year.  Throughout the year, peer helpers participate in hour-long, weekly staff meetings with professional counseling staff, where various cases encountered during the week are discussed. 

Peer helpers attend on-campus events that address sensitive issues such as date rape, alcohol abuse, suicide prevention, and eating disorders. Attendance at these events both complements peer helpers’ training and provides an additional source of support for students in attendance. 

The training manual is updated approximately every three years to ensure that the content stays up-to-date with the newest information on important mental health topics. Copies of the manual are available for sale to other colleges and universities to aid in the development of peer helper programs on their campuses.  In addition, the Fifty-Fifty advisor is available to answer questions from advisors at other institutions.

Evaluation Plan
Peer helpers record the number of students they help and their presenting problems in a “sessions log” over the course of the academic year.  Peer helpers typically log a total of about 750 sessions per academic year. The Fifty-Fifty program is also evaluated semiannually for its accessibility and popularity among the general student population. 

Contact Information
Please contact Gary Robinson for additional program details.