Why Become a Peer Mentor
By becoming a Zach’s Bridge Peer Mentor you have the opportunity to help a family on a similar journey as yours, facing advanced pediatric cancer. You can help families by sharing your experiences, providing understanding in a way that only people that have gone through can, and getting them access to helpful resources that are hard to find without Zach’s Bridge.
Most importantly, by becoming a peer you can give families facing advanced cancer and the hardest time in their lives a bit of peace, allowing them to focus more on their child instead of all the things that require effort when facing advanced childhood cancer. And if they are bereaved your can share your experience in a way that can help them move forward.
What to Expect
The peer evaluation process
- If you are interested, complete the form below.
- We will follow up quickly to learn more about you and explore becoming a peer
Being a peer helps families going through what we did by easing their journey, and giving them some connection. It’s a great way to give back and to honor our child too.
A Zach’s Bridge Peer
If You Are Selected to Become a Peer Mentor
- You will go through a multi-unit training course, developed by a psychologist, a social worker, and an expert in cancer specific peer support programs.
- You will engage in role playing to prepare your for your work as a peer.
- Once you are matched with a family, your responsibility is to reach out to them within 24 hours or sooner to schedule a first call or video chat.
- At the end of your first meeting, you will schedule periodic checkins based on the family’s desires, but your communications should be limited to just those times. Your family should have your name, email address and cell phone, and should be encouraged to reach out to you at any time, knowing that in general, they should expect a response from you within 24 hours or less.
- You should also plan on reaching out directly to your family as part of key milestones, whether that’s a test, a treatment, a surgery, a birthday or holiday, just to check in and let them know that you are there for them.
- Zach’s Bridge Executive Director will check in on you periodically, and you can also check in with her as needed to get advice. The Executive Director may also check in on the family if needed.
- We hope that you are willing to stay in touch with the family for the duration of their child’s illness and after as well.
If you have questions, please reach out at info@zachsbridge.org.