About the Peer to Peer Counseling Program

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About the Peer to Peer Counseling Program

The Peer-to-Peer Counseling Program serves as a platform for current AUB students to actively contribute to the well-being of their peers. It entails offering support through active listening, employing foundational communication skills and techniques, and appropriately referring individuals to the necessary channels when needed. This initiative allows students seeking support to openly share their thoughts, feelings, and struggles with peers who can empathize with their experiences.

The Peer-to-Peer Counseling Program offers several benefits for both the peer counselors and the student seeking support: it creates a mutually beneficial environment where both parties contribute to a supportive campus community, reduce stigma, and foster personal and interpersonal growth.

For for further inquiries, contact: extension 3196, counselingcenter@aub.edu.lb

Individual Check-Ins

Confidential one-on-one sessions tailored to your needs.

Open Check-In

Open Check-Ins offer a supportive space to talk through any concern you may be facing—academic, personal, emotional, or interpersonal. In this session, a trained peer counselor will listen, help you reflect, and support you using general supportive communication skills such as active listening, clarifying thoughts and feelings, and exploring next steps. These sessions are flexible, meaning you decide what to focus on and how much to share. Open Check-Ins are not therapy, but a confidential, peer-to-peer space to feel heard, gain perspective, and identify helpful supports or options moving forward.

Guided Check-In

Guided Check-Ins are structured sessions offering four focused options, each centered on a specific self-reflection or well-being practice. These sessions support stress regulation, emotional awareness, and personal insight.

Values Clarification Session

This guided self-reflection session helps you identify and clarify your personal values—the principles and qualities that matter most to you. Through structured exercises and discussion, you will explore what currently feels important in your life, reflect on moments when you felt most aligned or fulfilled, and examine how your daily choices connect to those values. No prior experience needed.

Self-Compassion & Kindness Meditation

Take 15 minutes to pause and turn toward yourself with care. This guided reflection begins with self-compassion—acknowledging struggle, remembering you’re not alone, and offering yourself kindness. From there, the circle of compassion gently expands outward, inviting you to extend well-wishes to others. No prior experience needed.

Box Breathing Practice

Feeling overwhelmed or anxious? This 10-minute breath-based practice helps you ground yourself in the moment and calm your nervous system. It’s ideal for anyone needing a reset between classes or during stressful periods. You’ll leave feeling more centered and clear-headed. No prior experience needed.

Body Scan & PMR

Take 15 minutes to unwind and recharge. This guided session begins with a body scan—a simple mindfulness practice that helps you notice your body from head to toe—and moves into progressive muscle relaxation, where you gently tense and release different muscle groups to let go of stress. No prior experience needed.

Community Belonging Experiences

Shared experiences that bring support and connection to campus life.

Finals De-Stress Week

Finals De-Stress is our signature end-of-semester pop-up designed for our peer counselors to help you breathe, pause, and feel supported during one of the most intense times of the academic year.

Over the years, we’ve brought comfort straight to campus: from the first therapy dogs ever on campus, to handwritten encouragement notes placed across cafeterias, grounding and positive posters in exam rooms, and interactive boards that remind you you’re not alone.

Every semester, we re-imagine how support can look and feel—always with one goal in mind: offering a warm community hug when you need it most!

PsychED! Coffee Hour

PsychED! Coffee Hour is a café-style community space designed to creatively normalize conversations around mental health, emotions, and shared human experiences. It aims to foster connection by emphasizing listening, shared reflection and building community one story at a time—offering you two complementary experiences:

1. Collaborations with Student Clubs & Societies

In partnership with student clubs and societies, our Psyched! Coffee Hour blends mental health themes with creative and social experiences that are playful and lighthearted while also reflective and meaningful. Each event is different, shaped by collaboration and student energy.

2. Stories of Growth

Through anonymous written submissions, students share personal reflections, experiences, or narratives related to wellbeing, stress, coping, and growth. Peer Counselors read these stories aloud, followed by guided reflections that help transform individual experiences into shared understanding.

Stay tuned for upcoming PsychED! Coffee Hour announcements throughout the semester!

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For various questions, please try contacting us via social media first!
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