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      • Part 1 Setting up a Peer support group
      • Part 2 The First Meeting
      • Part 3 Keeping the Group going
      • Part 4 Ending the Peer Support Group
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Part 2: The first meeting

The first meeting is always the one that’s the most nerve-racking. Will people come, will it work, what have we forgotten?
There are 8 sections to help you have a great first meeting. These are:

2.1 Acknowledgement of Country
2.2 Welcoming People 
2.3 Peer Leadership
2.4 Respecting Cultural Differences
2.5 Making Group Rules
2.6 Finding Topics
2.7 Sharing Knowledge and Experiences
2.8 Finishing the First Meeting

Enjoy the video – Part 2: The first meeting
(Image Description:  A group of people listening)
(For Transcript click here)
It will take about 9 mins to watch the whole video.
Watch the whole video, then watch it again, stopping at the end of each section.


2.1: Acknowledgement of Country 
(Image Description: A woman standing holding a small piece of paper)
(For Transcript click here)
 Start every meeting with an Acknowledgement of Country. This not only gets everyone clear that the land the group meets on is Aboriginal land, owned by the local Aboriginal people, but it starts the group off with showing respect and gratitude to others. 
Anyone from the group can do an Acknowledgement of Country. If there is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person in the room, they might like to do either an Acknowledgement or even a Welcome to Country. Make sure you ask them before you start (not in front of everyone!)
It can be a formal acknowledgement such as:
“I would like to acknowledge xx (insert the name of local people), the Traditional Owners of this land and pay my respect to Elders past, present and future. I want us to remember that this was, is and always will be Aboriginal land.”
Or you could say something like this:
“I want us to remember that Aboriginal people have lived here for a very, very long time. This is their land. I want to say thank you for having us on your land.”

2.2: Welcoming People
(Image Description: Two women sitting down)
(For Transcript click here)
 
Making people feel welcome is really important, especially at the first meeting. Think about it, there are people who find talking in front of even a small group really scary. Others love it. Some people are private, while others might share and share. Everyone is different.
Julie’s tips are useful here:
  • Make sure everyone is welcome
  • Maybe among the group of people organising the first meeting, there is someone who is a fantastic welcomer
  • Be there to support each other
“Peer groups are there to support each other. So it’s not just the responsibility of the one person, but your whole group, to make someone feel welcome.”

2.3: Peer Leadership
(Image Description: two women, one in profile and one in background)
(For Transcript click here)
 
If you are someone who normally takes on and feels responsible for everything, this is a really important point. Once you understand how peer leadership works, you will feel more comfortable as you set up the peer support group.
Ace says: 
“In the peer movement we don’t really use the word leader, there isn’t really a leader. It’s more about the shared responsibility that we all have in making the peer support meeting work. There is no boss, it’s about what each of us brings to the table, it’s all important.” 
So remember, just because this peer support group was your idea doesn't mean you are the boss, nor does it mean you are responsible for everything.
Peer leadership means:
  • Sharing all the responsibility
  • Everyone is an expert. We all have different strengths, it’s about sharing them
  • Sharing the decision making
Ace also talks about the importance of accountability. Peers are accountable to each other and hold each other to account. Accountability is important because it builds trust.
Being accountable means:
  • Be your word – make your words mean something
  • Do what you say – build trust in yourself and have others trust you
  • Hold others to their word – build trust in each other and build a movement
If everyone takes on a role, a task, something they will do at the meeting or for the next meeting and we all trust the person that they will do it (and if they need support, we will support them) – that’s peer support in action.
Peer leadership means we hold each other to account and help each other to succeed.
  
 2.4: Respecting cultural differences
(Image Description: three women from diverse cultural backgrounds sitting around a table.)
(For Transcript click here)
 In Australia, people with disability and our families come from over 200 different countries. We speak many different languages, and we have different beliefs and ways of doing things.
As a peer support group we must learn from each other and learn to understand and respect our similarities and differences. To make peer support welcoming of people from diverse cultures, we must think about all of those things and ask people what we can do to make everyone feel welcome.
Abbey sums it up by saying: 
“We invite people from different cultures. We are all united, but everyone has their own situation. We have respect for everyone’s cultures, for religion, because all of us are peers, we are equal.”
Abby also says rather than ignoring that we are all different, we should get to know each other and learn about our differences: 
“At the first meeting we have to sit together and welcome all people and work with each other.”

​​2.5 Making Group Rules
(Image Description: a group of people)
(For Transcript click here)

“What we like to do when we start a new group is to talk through what they think are the rules that will help make the group work.” says Julie. 
Rules might sound a bit strict; you might call them ‘agreements’, or ‘how we are together’. It doesn’t matter what you call them. They are simply a list of ways of doing things that everyone can agree to and they help run things smoothly. 
Group rules are really important, if later on you have some conflict or someone keeps breaking a rule.  You can get back to those rules any time you like. Some groups go back to the rules every meeting, other groups put them on the wall and read them out now and then. Whatever you do, it is recommended that you make some rules at the beginning and you go back and check in on them now and then. Change them if they don't work for the group.

Here are some of the more common rules you might already know about:
  • We start together on time and finish on time
  • We support each other 
  • We hold each other to account
  • We are respectful of each other
  • We are community – we look out for each other
And here are some others you might like to think about:
  • Taking turns to talk
  • Checking in with each other at the end of the meeting
  • Confidentiality
One of the things George and Julie talk about is quite important:
“You can’t hide behind the disability. Because everyone in our peer group tends to have a disability. So people are more accountable towards each other, rather than putting it off because: “ah, poor me, I have a disability”
“And that just means that we value what we’re saying to each other.”

​2.6 Finding Topics
(Image Description: Three women)
(For Transcript click here)
Julie says: “It’s a good idea to get with your group and ask them what they want. What topics do they want discussed?”
The easy answer to “How do we find topics?” is, ask the group. 
“We always open up the day with what’s been a good thing for us. What can we help each other with? Then a discussion on the topic. It kinda flows.”says George. 
Ace reminds us of the power of the group: “It’s really funny because when you are organising these meetings you kind of have an idea of kind of what you want it to look like: so this first meeting we will do this and then the next meeting we will do that. But really what needs to be done is: it has to be peer led. It’s about what comes up in the first meeting, what matters to people and kind of developing how we move forward from that.”

2.7 Sharing Knowledge and Experiences​
(Image Description: Man looking towards the camera)
(For Transcript click here)
Once you’ve found a topic, you might think about how to talk about it. Outside the peer movement we turn to others: therapists, social workers, government people. There is nothing wrong with that and sometimes peers get together for workshops and events run by them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It’s just NOT peer support.
For us who value our peers and our space, remember the experts are often in the room already!
Julie reminds us that: 
“If you want to get a good speaker, think about the peers that you have. Sometimes the best experts are your peers who have actually lived through it and who really know what they’re talking about, and they can share what they’ve done that really made it work for them.”
Remember, sometimes your group might want to invite a non-peer or an ally to speak at the peer group meeting. Just make sure that allies respect the space and peers lead the conversations. But remember, peers are the experts in their own lives and we can share and learn from each other first. 
2.8. Finishing the First Meeting
(Image Description: Two Women)
(For Transcript click here)

Reflection is the ability to think about something that happened, learn from it and do it better next time.
Our peer support meetings benefit from us reflecting together and making changes based on our needs and what we want to get out of the group. This makes our peer support group better, where you can continue to support your peers.
“After each meeting it’s really important that peers do some reflection. It’s a way that we can talk about what worked, what didn’t work so well, what we can improve in the future” says Ace.
George recommends taking 10 minutes before the end of the meeting for reflection time.

Checklist for: The First Meetings​

  • We start every meeting with Acknowledgement of Country
  • We make sure everyone feels welcome – maybe you can have someone take on the role of welcomer
  • Peer leadership means we are all leaders – we all share the responsbilities
  • We are accountable to each other
  • We learn about and respect our similarities and differences
  • We make rules together – we stick to them or we change them together
  • We lead together – we find topics together, we share our knowledge and our experiences
  • Looking for speakers on a topic – we first look amongst our peers as the experts
  • We may invite others – but we make sure it is always led by peers
  • We take time at the end of the meeting to reflect, learn and improve
 

Well done !
you have now completed Part 2.
click here to go to Part 3
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Diversity and Disability Alliance (DDA) is a peer led organisation, by people from culturally and linguistically diverse communites with disability for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities with disability.
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We also welcome family members and allies who support us in our leadership of DDA and in achieving our goals.