Volunteer | Peer Support Group Facilitators

Role Overview:

The BPD Society of BC is seeking passionate, committed and well-organized volunteers to facilitate a peer support group for individuals living with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Successful candidates for these voluntary roles will have direct lived experience of BPD or be a loved ones of a person living with BPD. As a Peer Support Group Facilitator, you will play a vital role in creating a safe, supportive, and non-judgmental environment where participants can share their experiences, build connections, and find hope.  The responsibilities of successful volunteer peer support facilitators will include working with other peers to deliver support group meetings based upon a peer model; attending pre- and de-brief meetings; and maintaining clear and consistent communication with the team.

Target Groups for Recruitment:

Currently, we are especially interested in hearing from potential volunteers for the following groups:

• Nanaimo
• Vancouver
• Kelowna

However, we continue to accept expressions of interest for potential volunteers for any of our groups virtually or throughout BC. Additionally, if we do not host a group in your region, you are welcome to indicate the area of interest when applying.

To find out where our peer support groups currently operate, please refer to our website for the most up-to-date list. 

Key Responsibilities:

Although not an exhaustive list, our volunteer Peer Support Facilitators can expect to be responsible for:

• Co-facilitating regular peer support group sessions (in-person or virtual).
• Creating a welcoming, inclusive, and empathetic space for all participants.
• Preparing and organizing the group space (e.g. set up and cleanup).
• Establishing a supportive and teamwork-oriented attitude to their roles.
• Encouraging validating dialogue and mutual support among group members.
• Attending pre- and de-brief before and after each meeting.
• Providing availability and maintenance of scheduling commitments and communicating in advance if changes need to be made to the schedule.
• Maintaining confidentiality and upholding ethical peer support principles.
• Collaborating and communicating regularly in an effective manner with team members and the Volunteer Manager and attend
• Participating in bi-annual supervision meetings and regional team meetings
• Reporting concerns to Volunteer Manager and completing incident reports as needed (e.g., safety issues, breaches).
• Modelling healthy limits, emotion regulation, and skillful communication.
• Sustaining support group structure, comfort agreement and time management

Duties vary between the in-person and virtual groups, and orientation towards these details will occur during our mandatory training session.

Qualities, Skills & Experience:

• Lived experience with BPD or a loved one (family member, partner, friend).
• Empathetic, validating, and non-judgmental.
• Excellent active listening and communication skills.
• Comfortable speaking in a group and facilitating conversations.
• Understanding of trauma-informed and recovery-oriented principles is an asset.
• Previous peer support or mental health volunteer experience is an asset.
• Willingness to complete facilitator training and onboarding process.
• Alignment with the core values & beliefs of the Society and peer support model.
• Dedication to the role and balance between other commitments.
• Professionalism and reliability.
• Strong teamwork skills such as mutual respect, trust, openness to feedback, problem solving and conflict resolution.
• Effective time management skills.
• Commitment to self-care, wellness, and critical self-reflection.

For more information on our values, core beliefs, and qualities of facilitators we look for, please review here.