Welcome
Welcome to your own unique journey into peer support learning and improving.
We know that learning new things can be challenging – particularly when working in the hectic peer space.
That’s why we have made different pathways for to help you get the most out of this training.
Vintage Pathway:
Perhaps you are someone who likes to take a ‘vintage’ approach and keep it old school? If you don’t use technology very much, have limited internet access or like to read offline then this pathway may be best for you.
Here you can simply download the PDF or Word document and read offline at your leisure. You can also download the entire package or just the Modules you are interested in. You can also use the self-study questions to make an evaluation plan while you go (download here).
Traditional Pathway:
Are you comfortable with ‘traditional’ online learning using the website content? This approach lets you skip parts you don’t need or work through each part step-by-step. It also lets you make your own evaluation plan and get access to videos and other online resources to keep you inspired.
Click the dropdown menus on the left to get started, “What is Gathering Evidence all about?” or click here to start making your evaluation plan.
Modern Pathway:
Are you a tech savvy ‘modern’ user, who prefers a more self-driven learning approach? Or do you really just want to make an Evaluation Plan but don’t have a lot of time?
In this approach you can use the questions in the Evaluation Plan Excel Spreadsheet to guide you through the material. Answer each question as you go and before you know it you will have an evaluation plan!
Click here to get started.
What’s in this training?
This training package has 7 steps to help you on your evaluation journey
- What is ‘Gathering Evidence’ all about?: We explore the need to know more about how we are travelling within the peer program journey. Our focus is on the need for an ongoing process of gathering information to learn about, and improve, our peer program offerings.
Download as PDF (700 KB) Download as Word (1.7 MB) - Why collect evidence?: We explore peer organisational capacity building and the benefits from collecting information within your group(s). We want peer programs to grow and develop, giving greater opportunities to people with disability.
Download as PDF (700 KB) Download as Word (1.8 MB) - The BIG picture story behind collecting evidence: Here we explore the basic elements of peer support and help you to get clear about the purpose of your peer programs. We also explore a structure for collecting information and introduce the Balanced Scorecard model.
Download as PDF (1 MB) Download as Word (1.6 MB) - Who, what, why & when of gathering evidence: Here we explore what we want to get evidence about, and why this is so needed in peer organisations. We also explore mission and strategy, and how these link to collecting evidence.
Download as PDF (1 MB) Download as Word (1.2 MB) - Tools & collection specifics: Now we know what we want to measure, we can design the types of tools we want to use and how to get other people involved. We focus on a range of simple, easy tools to suit a busy peer organisation.
Download as PDF (1.3 MB) Download as Word (2.5 MB) - Beyond the tools: Once we have collected the evidence, we need to use it. This step explores simple but powerful ways to collate and analyse the evidence.
Download as PDF (850 KB) Download as Word (1 MB) - Using your evidence internally and externally: In our final section we return to the purpose of peer programs and explore how to share and get the most out of your evidence.
Download as PDF (900 KB) Download as Word (4.7 MB)
Making your own Evaluation Plan
This training also gives you the opportunity to make your own evaluation plan.
You can make an evaluation plan by answering the Self-Study questions.
These appear throughout the training like this:
SELF STUDY Q x.y
This is a practice question which illustrates what these self study questions look like in the resource. Do you plan to use these to cement your learnings in this resource?
To make an Evaluation Plan write your answer each question in the Evaluation Plan Excel Spreadsheet.
In the spreadsheet the questions will appear like this:
Type your responses into the column shown in blue above. There are examples to each question in case you get stuck!
This spreadsheet is linked with a Word document.
After you have saved your answers in Excel, open the Word document and you will see your answers in your own draft Evaluation Plan.
Check out this Sample in PDF or WORD to see what we mean.
Click here to get started on making your own Evaluation Plan.
In Summary
This resource has been developed by Project Lead Dr Jennifer Job with the assistance of a broad team of passionate individuals who want to see more peer organisation resources particularly in the domain of ‘evaluation’ or, more simply, gathering of evidence. Dr Job founded the Families4Families peer support network for people living with acquired brain injury across South Australia in 2012 and was CEO until late 2017, she was a fulltime Carer for more than 10 years and is a Developmental Educator now working in her own business (providing specialised services to people living with acquired disability: see https://lifeupcycled.com.au/).
All content has been greatly enhanced by the contributions of Jala Burton, who has long been an advocate for peer support and was involved in Julia Farr Youth peer support and mentoring for many years. In addition to now serving on the JFA Purple Orange Board (https://www.purpleorange.org.au/who-we-are/our-board), Jala has lived experience of disability and provided excellent insight to ensure the resources fully reflect this lived experience. There was also a broad team who provided invaluable ongoing feedback during resource development, including experts from ANZSOG, SPRC, JFA Purple Orange and various peer organisations. A co-design process enabled varied views, ideas and contributions to be drawn together resulting in this package.
We now invite you to step into this training package and hope that you find this learning journey useful and helpful. Most importantly, we hope this package contributes in some way to the long-term success of your peer support programs as we too are passionate about the role user-led organisations can play within the new NDIS disability sector.