International peer support interns are an important part of Diak’s wellbeing services. They provide innovative services and support for international Diak students.
Peer support internship was developed in Ohjauksella hyvinvointia project in 2022. Peer support interns provide low treshold support for their peers in studies, wellbeing and life. In 2023 peer support internship was introduced to English speaking social services programme and in addition to study and life support, interns started providing support for integration to Finnish society for students moving to Finland for studies. 2. and 3. year Social Services students have a possibility to complete one of their three months work placements at Diak wellbeing services as a peer support intern (opintososionomiharjoittelija). They get 18 ECTS credits of the internship. Peer support interns are supervised by the Diak Study Guidance counselor and in addition they attend workshops in which they can anonomously reflect challenging cases and ethical dilemmas.
Peer support interns enhance the wellbeing of the Diak student community
The main task of international peer support interns is to organize activities that support the wellbeing of Diak’s international students. Being peers, they have a better understanding of what kind of wellbeing support is needed and useful for students. Some international students are lonely and the wellbeing activities strengthen the feeling of belonging and community at Diak. Interns have organized various wellbeing events, cultural activities, game nights, sports activities and picnics. In 2025 peer support interns started working in students living room which is an open space where students can come to relax, which makes the services more accessible and visible.
Peer support interns provide also individual support for their peers. Students can come to seek for support with practical issues or with any challenges they face. If the situation of a student is very serious – student is for example facing serious mental health or substance abuse challenges – the peer support intern helps the student to seek for professional help. Sometimes the intern meets the professional together with the student.
Studies cause stress to students and sometimes the stress is too much to handle alone. Peer support interns are there to provide study support that can ease the stress. They help students to complete missing assignments, to study for exams and to understand how to use referencing in academic texts. Students can get help with digital systems, time management and study skills. Peer support interns cooperate closely with the Special Needs Teacher, Student Counselor, Study Guidance Counselors and University Chaplain.
Supporting integration to Finnish society
Peer support internship was established to complement the services that tutors provide for international degree students moving to Finland. Tutors are volunteers that pick up international students from the airport and help them to settle in Finland and at Diak. However, tutors are are mainly available in the beginning of the academic year. Many international students need support also after the first weeks and international peer support interns have been developing a more extensive and long term support for the newcomers. International peer support interns have also developed the New in Finland website together with Diak staff. Peer support interns participate in organising pre-arrival and after arrival workshops of various topics such as Studying in Finland, Finnish culture, Family services in Finland, Job hunting etc.
Peer support internship was established to complement the services that tutors provide for international degree students moving to Finland.
Students that move to Finland can get individual support in finding housing, hobbies, social networks and part time employment. Most of the international peer support interns have international background themselves and are able to identify with the emotions, needs and challenges of newcomers. They can also support students with their psychological adjustment process.
Student voice to Diak service design
International peer support interns are encouraged to come up with development ideas and take part in development projects of Diak. International peer support interns have had an important role in the development of Diak’s integration services, Diak Safer space guidelines, new Social Services curriculum and Finnish language learning possibilities such as language café and language mentoring.
Assisting the teachers and facilitating group work
Peer support interns also assist teachers in various classes. Working in multicultural groups can be challenging and since peer support interns have a lot of experience of group work themselves and they have studied group facilitation in their social services studies, they provide a great resource for groups in trouble. Peer support interns also help groups to organise field visits and sometimes also join the field visits of students.
Cooperation of Finnish and English speaking interns
The peer support interns of English speaking and Finnish speaking social services programme share the same working space in the students living room. This provides possibilities to plan activities and events together and to learn from each other. Cooperation with the Finnish interns also makes it possible for international students to develop their everyday Finnish skills. Finnish interns also provide Finnish language mentoring for international peer support interns.
Peer support internship enhances student centered approach at Diak
Discussions with international peer support interns bring the student viewpoint to planning of wellbeing and study guidance activities. This enhances the student centered approach at Diak. Study Guidance Counselor, Teachers and other Diak staff have learned a lot of the realities of international students through the cooperation with international peer support interns. International peer support interns have become a crucial part of Diak’s wellbeing services.
Pysyvä osoite: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20251203114009
