A Peer Support Community: The Toronto Peer Network.
The Toronto Peer Network is an online community of Toronto Peer Supporters and Peer Workers in supportive roles - along with consulting Peer Mentors. It is a new discussion forum for Peer-related questions, solutions, practices, and policies welcoming members from cross-sectoral Peer Support communites.
Its purpose is to facilitate discussion among colleagues across the Peer services field, including allied services and research.
Posts regarding Peer Support service questions, resources, programs, events, research, policy, and other topics related to Peer work with lived experience people are welcome.
Signing up and participating
To access the group as a mailing list, just send an e-mail to Info@PeerHouse.ca (Interim Moderator Elizabeth Tremblay) with the following information:
Your role and organization
The e-mail address where you would like to receive the messages
To post a message to the group, e-mail your message to TorontoPeerNetwork@googlegroups.com and it will be sent to all group members after moderation.
To leave the group, send a blank email to TorontoPeerNetwork+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
If you would like to access the group as an online forum, you will need to be signed up with a g-mail address, or g-suite address (a Google account).
If you are signed up with a Google account, you can also post your messages on the group page.
What if you don’t have a gmail account and want to access the group as an online forum ? Go to the sign-up page to create an account. You can either create a new Gmail address (default) or use an existing e-mail account (click on “Use my current email address instead”). To join the group, sign into your Google account, go to the group page, click on “Apply for membership”, and write your role and organization in the text box.
Moderation
The Toronto Peer Network Google group is moderated; all messages are read by a moderator before they are posted to the group. If your message is not posted, you will receive a notification with an explanation. Messages may not be posted if they fall into any of the following categories:
Identifying Peer information (see below)
Messages intended for an individual (please double-check the “To” address)
“Low-content” messages (e.g., “Thanks!” “Interesting!”)
“Off-topic” messages that are not related to Peer Support or Peer supportive Work
Posts that violate the code of conduct (see below)
Please do not include details that could result in your Peer being identified by others. Please use general descriptions as much as possible (i.e., decade for age, approximate time frames for recent service admissions/interventions), include only Peer Support relevant health and social details, and avoid naming specific organizations, treatment centres, hospitals to protect your Peer. The moderator may ask you to adjust a scenerio if the post contains potentially identifying information.
All messages that follow these rules will be posted. If you have any questions about why a message was not posted, please contact the interim moderator (Elizabeth) at Info@PeerHouse.ca.
Code of conduct
Peer Network Toronto advocates the use of anti-stigma and anti-oppression language. Members may be asked to rewrite any posts that contain stigmatizing language.
The purpose of the Toronto Peer Network Google group is to facilitate discussion among Peer colleagues in the supportive services field. Debate is welcome, including critiques of policies and organizational practices related to Peer Supporters, Peer Workers, and lived experience people (posts need to be on policies and practices rather than individuals or groups). Messages containing personal attacks, insults, profanity, or threatening or abusive language will not be posted. Messages of ill intent to individuals or groups will also not be allowed.
We request (but do not require) that members include their name and role at the end of each post.
If you have any concerns about a particular post, please contact the Moderator (Elizabeth) at Info@PeerHouse.ca, who will take the concern to the Toronto Peer Network Mentor team.