The Importance of Peer Support: How You Can Be a Supportive Peer
What is a Peer?
The term Peer can be used in many different contexts, but here at Aspire, we consider it to be individuals in our lives who share similar interests or lived experiences. For example, members who attend the same social club or cooking class. A peer can also be a classmate, co-worker, or even someone within the same culture or gender.
What is Peer Connection?
Regardless of age, gender, or neurotype, connection is at the cornerstone of being human. The term “peer connection” describes the social bonds, relationships, and interactions formed between peers. We want to highlight the importance of peer connection because we know that neurodivergent individuals are more likely to feel isolated, misunderstood, or the pressure to “fit in.” So if you are wondering how to be supportive to your peers and create a welcoming environment, here are 3 ways you can achieve this:
Respect Different Communication Styles
Some of your peers may prefer to communicate differently than you. This could look like communicating through text, rather than talking, needing more time to process before responding in a conversation, or giving direct or very straightforward responses. To make sure you and your peers have successful conversations, be sure to ask them how they prefer to communicate, allow for extra time to respond, and remember that tone, eye contact, and body language can look different for everybody.
Validate Experiences
We know that neurodivergent individuals are more prone to feeling misunderstood or the need to mask in specific environments. This can be exhausting! When a peer is sharing an experience with you, be sure to support them, rather than question or provide judgement. This could sound like “it makes sense that you would feel that way”, “that sounds exhausting”, or “I appreciate you telling me about this”. It might also be helpful to share your experience navigating a similar situation.
Be Consistent
One of the most important aspects of any relationship or connection is consistency. This means being a reliable presence, whether through checking in over text, following through on commitments, being there when it matters, and not going back and forth between being super close and absent. It is also important to consider that you and your peers may have different energy limits or boundaries. For example, just because a friend cancels plans at the last minute, doesn't mean they don't want to see you, it could just be that they are feeling burnt out and need some time to themselves. It is important to communicate openly and honestly about these boundaries to maintain trust in the relationship.