“Weird duality”: Learning from peer mentors’ experiences of supporting student mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives: To explore the experiences of university peer mentors in the pandemic context and apply participatory methods to co-produce recommendations for practice. Participants: Thirteen peer mentors from varied undergraduate and postgraduate mentoring programmes in one university in South-East England. Methods: A two-phase qualitative design involving individual interviews and a focus group, followed by a participatory action group with a subset of phase 1 participants. Results: Peer mentors identified an increasing student need for mental health support during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, engaging with prospective mentees was a challenging process for many participants. Peer mentors assumed multiple roles. Mentor-mentee relationship were characterised by intimacy and mutuality, which were seen as conducive to providing authentic support but also presented significant challenges in negotiating boundaries. Conclusions: Peer mentoring is a complex activity, characterised by a sense of multiplicity and mutuality. Peer mentors require greater supervision and training to manage these complexities.