Co-creating an alumni peer support programme for young people who have experienced homelessness

Turning a gap into a programme, led by young people

The Doorway is a non-profit, community dedicated to supporting young people as they empower themselves to transition off the streets and thrive. Its model has always put the voice of lived experience first and young people in the lead. Its young people had been clear about a gap: once housed, many lost the community and connection that had helped them, and they wanted a way to stay connected, to each other and to support, at the times when other services are closed. Habitus came in to help turn that into a real, fundable programme.

Challenges

The Doorway had deep strengths in youth engagement, but building a robust peer and alumni programme was new ground. The team knew what they wanted to achieve and knew their young people well, and they also knew they did not yet have the peer and alumni experience in-house to develop the programme to the standard it needed, or the confidence that it would stand up as a strong, well-evidenced model. They wanted to be sure it was properly developed, grounded in peer practice, and described in a way that would convince funders to back it.

What we did

We worked as partners with The Doorway, its young people, its team, and its leadership, to design both the alumni peer support programme and the peer leadership training behind it, rooted in lived experience and built on the best available evidence.

Co-designing the delivery programme. We designed the alumni peer support programme with the young people it is for, treating them as the experts in their own lives. Their focus groups shaped the model: activity-based peer support delivered through place-based and outreach activities, in the early evenings and at weekends, a safe space to connect and share with people who understand, somewhere they can simply show up when other services are closed.

Designing the peer leadership training. We also identified and shaped what the alumni peer leadership training would be, a co-developed 30-hour programme that gives young people who have been through The Doorway the skills to lead, grounded in an Indigenous holistic learning framework and developed with alumni, Indigenous partner organisations, and peer supporters already working in the sector. It builds confidence, belonging, and self-identity, and leads to paid peer leadership roles, both within The Doorway and across the wider sector.

Grounded in best practice. We built both on international best practice, drawing on the Housing First for Youth approach and on emerging peer programmes in London and Toronto, so the design was true to young people’s own asks and strong enough to stand up to funders.

A case for support funders could back. We brought the design together into a clear case for support, built to take to provincial government funding, setting out the need, the model, the training, and the evidence behind it in language that made the case plainly.

How we made a difference

We designed both the programme and the training to be led by and with young people from the start, so what launched reflects what they said they needed, built to last rather than to pilot. The Doorway moved from knowing it wanted a peer and alumni programme to having a fully developed, funded one, grounded in peer practice and ready to run.

Results

• A co-designed alumni peer support programme, shaped by the young people it is for

• A 30-hour alumni peer leadership training programme, developed with alumni, Indigenous partners, and working peer supporters

• Close to $200,000 in provincial government funding secured, the full amount needed to launch

• Paid peer leadership roles created for programme alumni, within the Doorway and across the sector

• The programme now live and running

Floyd Visser, Executive Director: "This programme means our young people do not lose their community the moment they move on. They have somewhere to belong, and some of them are now leading it themselves. That is exactly what we hoped for."

Habitus has extensive experience co-designing peer and alumni programmes with the people they are for, and building the case for support to fund them. For more information on how Habitus can support your organisation or network to develop lived experience and peer leadership, contact us.