An Experiential Helping Skills Course for Undergraduates: The Helping Relationship

Abstract

Introduction: An innovative undergraduate helping skills course where students learn, practice, and apply a problem management model with a peer volunteer on a non-clinical issue across three supervised helping meetings is presented. Statement of the Problem: Undergraduate helping skill courses are typically offered as in-class role-plays. This course goes beyond role-plays and provides an authentic helping experience with an out-of-class peer volunteer. Literature Review: Literature supports an argument for deeper learning by extending the typical process of role-play-based helping skill learning to the application of skills to support a peer with a genuine issue. Teaching Implications: Lecture, in-class skills practice, and supervision with the instructor facilitates student capacity to work with a non-classmate peer volunteer. Instructors closely oversee student work in and outside of class to provide an ethical, structured, non-professional helping experience. Conclusion: We highlight here the constructivist and mastery underpinning of an undergraduate helping skills course. Along with instructor feedback, student learning and growth are facilitated by students’ own reflections of the helping process with their peer volunteers. Student helpers describe the course as impactful. Course resources are available in open materials.