Posted on 13/12/2018

Peer2Peer in Western Switzerland

Fondation Dora will support Pro Juventute in its work to establish the Peer2Peer pilot program in Switzerland’s French-speaking cantons. Peer2Peer is a “chat” style program and an extension of Pro Juventute’s service Conseils + aide 147.

Since 1999, Conseils + aide 147 has maintained a 24h hotline, both an SMS and an email “hotline”, as well as a website providing information on a range of relevant issues. In 2017, approximately 125,000 children and teenagers used the service; nearly 350 per day. The service helps Swiss youth confront their most distressing issues: family challenges, school and professional situations, addictions, love, friendship, sexuality, and violence. 

The Peer2Peer program will enable children and teenagers to support their peers by using a “chat” service. The project promotes participation and togetherness between peers in the presence of a supervising professional.

Peer2Peer has two main goals:

• Develop a peer support structure using 5 “youth counselors” who have been recruited and trained.
• Support and train these “youth counselors” during their “chat” sessions via direct coaching by experienced members of the Conseils + aide 147 team.

The “youth counselors” will be recuited and trained between January - March 2019 so that the “chat” service and peer support structure can launch in June 2019 in French-speaking Switzerland. 

"un tchat tenu par des jeunes et pour les jeunes"

For more information, listen to the following report in “On en parle” from the RTS