Peer Counseling and Peer Education
Peer counselors offer telephone and drop-in hours, as well as referrals for medical care, psychotherapy, and other services when appropriate. They listen and respond in a non-judgmental way to a variety of concerns common to other students. Coming from various backgrounds and ethnic groups themselves, the peer counselors realize that each person’s experience is unique and reflects differences in class, culture, ethnicity, gender, race, and sexual orientation. All student volunteers receive training and ongoing supervision from the staffs at the Bureau of Study Counsel and HUHS professional staff, and confidentiality and anonymity are guaranteed.
Consent Assault Awareness & Relationship Educators (CAARE)
Members of the OSAPR Alliance serve as liaisons between OSAPR and the Harvard undergraduate community. They assist the OSAPR’s broad mission of engendering a student culture free of interpersonal violence by coordinating and promoting relevant programming and informing the OSAPR’s outreach strategies. Examples of projects OSAPR Student Alliance members are involved with include: campus outreach, peer education, Saturday Night magazine, Harvard Men Against Rape, Vagina Monologues, Take Back the Night, and organizing creative events and projects to raise campus awareness.
Contact
Thayer Basement
Hotline Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 8pm to 1am
Drop-In Hours: Thursday, Friday & Sunday 8pm to 1am
Phone: 617-495-8111
Contact provides non-judgmental, non-directive, confidential peer counseling for Harvard undergraduates. Contact is the newest of the five UHS-supervised confidential peer counseling organizations. It was formed in the spring of 1985 by a group of students who felt there was a need at Harvard for a place where students could talk about issues of sexual orientation. Today, while the counselors on our staff specialize in the areas of sexual orientation, sexuality, sex, and relationships, we are trained to handle a wide variety of topics.
Eating Concerns Hotline and Outreach (ECHO)
Lowell House Basement M-13
Hotline Hours: Daily 8pm to 8am
Drop-In Hours: Sunday-Wednesday 8 to 11pm
Phone: 617-495-8200
Eating Concerns Hotline and Outreach (ECHO) is committed to addressing the serious issue of problems with food, from anorexia and bulimia to body image. ECHO staffers are trained undergraduates who provide non-judgmental support, both for those dealing with these issues and those who are concerned about a friend, roommate, significant other or family member. Along with offering drop-in hours and a hotline, ECHO plans and produces outreach events for the community.
Sexual Health and Relationship Counselors
HUHS After Hours – 5th Floor
Drop-In Hours: Sunday-Thursday 7pm to 12am, Friday-Saturday 8pm to 10pm
Phone: 617-495-7561
Email: [email protected]
SHARC is a group of undergraduate men and women who counsel Harvard students about issues of contraceptives, sexually transmitted infections, relationships, and sexuality. Visit the office to pick up free condoms, lube, and dental dams, check out our library, or say hi and talk!
Response
Hotline Hours: Daily 9pm - 8am
Drop-In Hours: Sunday- Wednesday: 8 pm-11pm in Lowell Basement E, Thursday: 8 pm - 11 pm in Jordans South Basement
Phone: 617-495-9600
Response is a group of undergraduate students professionally trained to provide peer counseling on any and all relationship issues -- from concerns about dating to concerns about sexual harassment or assault. We are here to provide non-judgmental support, honest answers, information, and resources to Harvard undergraduates of all genders and sexualities.
Room 13
Thayer Basement B-09
Drop-In Hours: Monday-Saturday 7pm to 7am
Phone: 617-495-4969
Email: [email protected]
From 7pm to 7am, Room 13 is staffed by two students–usually a man and a woman. We take people and their concerns seriously; we will listen and respond non-judgmentally. When you call or drop by, no one will pressure you to talk about anything you don’t want to. You can feel free to ask to talk to just a female or male counselor, or both. You don’t need an appointment, and we don’t record your name. Room 13 will maintain strict confidentiality, meaning we don’t tell friends, senior tutors, proctors, or administrators about what we talk about.
Student Mental Health Liaisons
Student Mental Health Liaisons (SMHL) was founded to reach students in a non-threatening environment, engage them in the ongoing effort to promote a community that attends to the emotional well-being of students, and to provide factual information oriented to and delivered by students. SMHL are student leaders who work collaboratively with the Wellness Proctors/Tutors and other student groups to promote a supportive student community at Harvard.
HealthPALs – Health Peer Advisors & Liaisons – are a team of student healthcare liaisons between Harvard University Health Services and the campus community. HealthPALS serve dual roles as educators who can help students access and navigate care at HUHS & ambassadors who bring students' ideas, feedback and experience back to the health system to create meaningful change. All HealthPALs are also certified in first aid and CPR, and have a HealthKIT with first aid supplies and single doses of common over-the-counter medications in their rooms.
Note: The above information is compiled from each group’s respective website. If any information is missing or incorrect, please email us at [email protected] so that we can fix it right away.