Do they find it challenging to initiate social interaction and associate with peers?
Would they like having a buddy who listens and spends some time with them?
BePeers is an online service that pairs children and/or young adults with a peer coach based on geography, interests, and goals for virtual sessions from the comfort of their home.
Friendly interactions
We know neurodiverse individuals (in particular people on the spectrum) can be challenged by social language and retreat from social interactions, not because they lack the desire to interact with others, but because they find it difficult. As a result, they tend to have fewer friends – often none at all – and participate in fewer social and recreational activities than their peers, thus bypassing the practice that leads to confidence in spontaneous social interactions.
That’s why we created BePeers. As the older sister of a neurodiverse young adult, I have witnessed first-hand the struggles and difficulties experienced by my younger brother. When my partner walked into my life 7 years ago, his drive to engage, mentor and befriend my brother has had a major impact on both their lives. We strongly believe in the power of friendly interactions and that’s why we decided to build BePeers.
We want to enhance skills, confidence and wellness, one interaction at a time.
How it works
BePeers connects anyone who experiences social and/or life skills challenges with qualified peer coaches for virtual interactions, guided conversations, entertainment, and social/life skills training.
Our coaching sessions use a “self-determination model”, where each coach and coachee will set goals they wish to achieve and hold each other accountable. They can keep diaries of their meetings, recordings of their games and discussions. Or they can just hang out in our virtual “entertainment centre” of 80+ creative, logical, physical or expressive games. Our coaches are given access to a wide repository of resources and materials to help them organize the sessions.
Our peer coaches come from diverse backgrounds, with prior exposure to neurodiversity either professionally or personally. They will be also mentored by a licensed professional for any questions/ guidance they might need/ have.
It’s a community
BePeers is not a counselling platform; it’s a community for those in need of a social coach, a buddy, and for their parents, and caregivers. Peer coaching isn’t and shouldn’t be perceived as a remedial activity or strategy to “fix” someone. Rather, peer coaching can be as tailored, individual, and unique as the team who undertakes it.
There’s a growing body of evidence regarding the effectiveness of peer coaching in different settings. Peer coaching has already been implemented in corporate environments, classrooms, for medical reasons or life assistance. It’s affordable, organic, scalable, and easy to implement. It’s a confidential process through which people work together to expand, refine, and build new skills, share ideas, solve problems, and teach one another based on trust and established rapport. Two key components of such an approach are trust and reflection.
Join us in your new journey
If we look at peer-coaching as a means of support for addressing developmental challenges, why can’t it be integrated into the neurotypical/ neurodiverse understanding and inclusivity challenge?
This is our mission today! Join us on your new journey and find us at www.bepeers.com or contact us at bepeers.team@gmail.com