Having run since 2000, the decision has been made to close the Students Association’s Peer Support service. Students will be directed instead to TalkCampus, a service that the Open University now offers to all students.
Over the last few months we have sought feedback on the service from stakeholders, including students (through the Annual Membership Survey), Peer Supporters, the elected Student Leadership Team (SLT), and Association staff. We have also consulted with staff at TalkCampus, to understand how the app can fulfil a peer support service that meets the needs of our users. The conclusion has been that TalkCampus is excellently placed to offer the support that our students seek, and indeed offers some benefits such as a greater pool of volunteers available at more times of the day, more training resources and additional functions. Rather than compete with TalkCampus, the decision was made to recommend that the Association’s Peer Support service is closed so that we can free up resources that can be put to good use on other services and projects. This was unanimously agreed by the elected SLT at their meeting on Saturday, 22 April.
The service will be closed completely at the end of July. Until then we will keep the day-to-day service running, but new One to Ones will no longer be offered. Students who already have One to One support with a Peer Supporter can continue to make use of this until the end of their current module.
We encourage you to take a look at our TalkCampus webpage for more information on how to join and all the great things that the service offers.
We would particularly like to thank the current and past Peer Supporters for all of their hard work. It’s not an easy role, and they have done it brilliantly on a voluntary basis to help their fellow students.