Generation Patient Peer Support Facilitator Role Description

About GP Peer Support Groups:

Our peer groups are a space for young adults (“YA,” generally ages 18-30) with chronic medical conditions to share experiences and connect with others. Our groups are peer-run, facilitated by young adults living with chronic conditions. We try to foster support, solidarity, and strategy sharing in our groups to help our community navigate challenges. We host two types of cross-disease groups (our “General Group,” open to YA patients with any chronic medical condition/regardless of formal diagnosis, and our “Higher Ed Group,” for YA patients in college/graduate school) and one disease-specific group (our “Young Adults with IBD Group”).  

Basic Description of the Facilitator Role:

Plan and guide group discussions or activities (alongside a co-facilitator!), including introductions/icebreakers, the main discussion/activity, and any concluding activities.

We look for facilitators who are:

• Comfortable sharing their stories with peers and hearing peers’ experiences of chronic illness that may be different from their own!
• Skilled at validating peers’ experiences, without trying to “solve” or “fix” their challenges
• Comfortable holding space in both difficult conversations and more casual chats
• Able to gently encourage peers to share stories/strategies/resources with one another and practice advocacy skills
• Excited to learn about/respect community members with a wide range of access needs!

Requirements:

• Lived experience as a YA with a chronic condition!!
• Experience facilitating peer groups OR experience in a field such as social work, therapy, counseling, community health, etc.** 
• Consistent/timely communication (through text and/or email)

Hours/Compensation:

We provide a $50 facilitator stipend for each group led. Groups are 1 hour long, and typically involve ~30 minutes of prep/debrief time with a co-facilitator (equivalent to $33/hour).  We are looking for facilitators who can commit to leading 1-2 groups per month, though more frequent opportunities may arise!

Interested in getting involved? Fill out this brief interest form! 🙂