Sexual abuse. Stress. Alcohol abuse. Body issues. Drug Abuse. Students are finding strength in numbers as more than 100 of them band together to tackle intense issues like these and promote healthier choices on campus.
The Peer Education Network has brought together groups like Women’s Circle, Women’s Wisdom, SADD, Men Organized To End Violence, and their own Peer Educators in a forum where members of all groups can work together toward a common goal.
Peer Education has its roots in the 1980s, when the University began to recognize the need to address the growing trend of alcohol and substance abuse on campus. The program worked well up until the late 90s, when a shift in the number of members forced the leaders to get creative and come up with a new way to maintain the program and its important message.
What they came up with was the Peer Education Network to encourage members to participate across the specialized groups. According to Jeanne DiMuzio, director of Wellness and Prevention and PEN’s advisor, the Network allows the groups to “join together to effectively plan programs.”
It facilitates the creation of ideas to address the health and safety concerns on campus in order to “create programs, events and campaigns to educate their peers and the campus at large,” said DiMuzio.
PEN has monthly meetings, which are held on the last Wednesday of each month, to bring together all the groups. The groups are then responsible to schedule and organize their own weekly or bi-weekly group meetings.
DiMuzio described the monthly meetings as a “time to share upcoming events, set schedules and build alliances.”
PEN has organized joint events such as Alcohol Awareness, Take Back the Night (a sexual assault event) and The Great Campus Drink-Out. PEN member Brigid Williams ’07 particularly enjoys working the events before finals.
“It is a great release from the day,” she said.
PEN member Jocelyn Collen ’06 is happy to have the opportunity to educate fellow students.
“My favorite part of PEN is that I am able to keep informed and help inform others of valuable information about health and wellness,” she said. “All of the information PEN sends out to the student body is vital, and its facts and figures students should be aware of.”
In addition to the Network, there are also a number of Certified Peer Educators. It takes 12 hours of training, plus an additional two to three hours of training in their specialized area of interest. These students hold a direct membership with the National Peer Education Network and follow the roles of the originally established Peer Educators. Williams said her experience as an educator has been focused on learning.
“I have learned so much from being a part of this organization,” she said.
Collens believes PEN is indispensable to the Fairfield community.
“PEN is beneficial for the general well-being of all Fairfield students. [It] provides data to the student body that should be taken to heart,” she said.
A closer look at peer educators
Certified peer educators specialize in any of the following topics:
Alcohol and other drugs: Students work to promote healthy choices and participate in such events as National Alcohol Awareness weeks in both the fall and spring.
HIV ‘ STD prevention: Safe sex is promoted and students participate in World AIDS Day each December.
Sexual assault prevention: Working alongside the university’s SMART task force, this group hopes to educate students about sexual assault and dating misconduct. Every April, Sexual Awareness month is sponsored.
Wellness awareness: Working with the Health Center, Counseling Services and the Recreation Complex, this group helps with Mental Health Days, Stress Days and other events.
Leave a Reply