How to Recruit Members of Your Peer Support Circle

This recruitment is step 2 of 3 to start a Circle. Step 1 is planning and registering your Circle. To recruit three to four people to fill out your Circle, in addition to you, here are many sources of potential Circle members, many of them in strong stress because of COVID-19.

Consider Sources of Potential Circle Members

Has anyone told you recently about some strong concern in their lives? For example, think about friends who have expressed concerns about the COVID-19 virus, employees who have lost their jobs, business owners who have lost many of their customers, members of organizations that you are affiliated with, contacts in your email, contacts in your social media and neighbors in your neighborhood. What about first-level responders? Students needing support to do online assignments?

Sample Invitation

I'm writing to invite you to join a free Peer Support Circle with me. A Circle is a highly confidential group that includes 4-5 people who meet for 1.5-2.0 hours a month, in-person or over the phone.

In each meeting, each person gets 20-25 minutes to get help from other members to address a current challenge. It could be about any aspect of life that people are concerned about, e.g., work, parenting, job loss and financial stress.

People help each other with practical advice, materials and thoughtful questions. It's not a training, therapy or discussion group. People works on what's important to them now and how they can go forward.

There are similar groups around the world, many of them with different names. Technically, they're peer coaching groups. They are quite successful. I invite you to look around the website https://PeerSupportCircles.org and let me know what you think. I'd be glad to answer any questions.
Thanks!

Then Do a Brief Follow-Up

Then have a brief phone call. Don't be pushy. In the call, just:

Ask what they thought about the information.
Try to answer any questions they might have.
Clarify that it's highly confidential and only 1.5 to 2 hours every two three weeks.
Add that it helps them, and let's them help others, too.
Mention that they will be guided through the meetings.
Promise to get back to them with any answers you didn't know yet.
Contact us via the email address or Facebook page under "Contact Us."

Now you are ready to go on to step 3 of 3 to start your Circle, preparing members of your Circle to begin the ongoing Circle meetings.

"What has been most useful is the motivating 'kick in the butt' benefit."
– Kathy Hendrickson, Choices for Children, Hopkins, Minnesota