How to … Create Peer-Facilitated Support Groups for Health Professions Students

Abstract

Mental health declines throughout medical school for many students with half of students reporting symptoms of burnout, which may negatively impact individual health and professional development. American College of Physicians in alignment with the PERMA well-being model suggest organisations provide programming to promote belonging and social support through opportunities to connect with peers. To overcome a medical culture that encourages perfectionism (while hiding vulnerability) and to achieve meaningful interaction, brave and safe student spaces need to be created. Medical student support groups facilitated by psychotherapists and faculty have promoted well-being yet are limited by facilitator availability and student concern for possible career implications. To create brave spaces for meaningful interaction, the authors created and implemented unstructured, participant-directed, near-peer facilitated medical student support groups. The authors recommend empowering student facilitators with (1) a brief training from a psychologist, (2) access to a faculty advisor, (3) a sample facilitator guide for ‘how to’ facilitate unstructured sessions and (4) opportunities for reflection and for receiving participant feedback. Participants and facilitators appreciated the opportunity to connect honestly with peers and have experiences normalised. Near-peer facilitated support groups have the potential to improve the training experience, promote well-being and mental health and shape the culture of medicine.