Training Programme for Peer Counsellors with Migrant Background

29 January – 30 June 2026

About the Training

The Peer Counselling Training Programme is designed for individuals who feel a genuine desire to support others through life changes, personal growth, and challenging life stages. This programme is ideal if you are ready to consciously and supportively share your personal experiences.

During this training, participants will gain the knowledge, practical skills, and personal insight needed to inspire hope and support in others. Peer counsellors create safe spaces for sharing, act as motivators, and help others find meaning—within communities, recovery and healthcare institutions, and private organisations.

This role requires participants to have reflected on their own life experiences and to be able to see life, others, and themselves in a hopeful and positive way.

Our trainers are experienced practitioners, offering practical, engaging, and value-driven teaching—just like peer counselling itself.

The training is conducted in English.
Target group: The target group is people with a migrant background living in Tallinn who are at least 18 years old, including new immigrants, residents with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and returnees who wish to acquire the knowledge and skills to work as peer counsellors in order to support others with similar migration experiences on their journey to mental health and adaptation.

Liisa Paavel: Family Therapist, Special Educator, Peer Counsellor Trainer

Training Curriculum

• Introduction to Peer Counselling

• Counselling Foundations & Ethics

• Self-Awareness & Reflection for Counsellors

• Analysis of Personal Recovery Experience

• Basic Counselling Skills and Techniques

• Crisis Intervention Fundamentals

• Group Work Fundamentals

• Supervised practice

• Independent Work

• Final Assignment

In 2023, Loov Ruum training centre’s curriculum was successfully evaluated by the Eesti Hariduse Kvaliteediagentuur.
You can view our curriculum file here.

Schedule

Session 1: 29-30 January

Session 2: 12-13 February

Session 3: 26-27 February

Session 4: 12-13 March

Session 5: 26-27 March

First day always 12:00–19:00, second day 10:00–17:00.

Minimum attendance: 80% of training days (maximum 2 days absence allowed)

Supervised Practice & Final Assignment

• School-based supervised practice: 1–2 April & 10 April
• External supervised practice: 11 April – 18 June (22 academic hours, schedule coordinated with your practice institution)
• Practice review and supervision session: 18 June
• Final assignment submission: 19 June

• Certificate issuance: 30 June 2026

This part of training must be completed in full 100%.

Completion Requirements

• Minimum 80% attendance
• 100% practice completion with a positive evaluation
• Timely submission of final assignment with positive evaluation
• Trainers’ positive assessment of the participant’s fulfilment of curriculum outcomes

Certificate of Completion – issued when the entire training has been fully completed and all requirements have been met.

Certificate of Attendance – issued when the training has been partially completed or some requirements have not been positively fulfilled.

APPLICATION PROCESS

1. Please complete the application form by 8 January. 
   
   
2. Please attach a short (0,5 page) letter sharing why you’d like to become a peer counsellor and join the course. You may share any experiences that you feel are relevant, but only to the extent you feel comfortable.

Applicants may submit the motivation in written form or as a video.

If you choose to submit a video, please upload it to Google Drive (or other similar platform) and share a viewable link. (Videos cannot be uploaded directly to the application form.) 

 3. Please ensure you are available for a group interview on either 15 or 16 January at 18:00-21:00.
The interviews take place in a group and last 3 hours. 

APPLY HERE

General Information