Methodical research in Social Work deals, first and foremost, with itself and addresses questions such as “Which quality criteria need to be fulfilled?” or “Which approach to an assessment is most suitable?” The significance of working with self-help and user participation is largely disregarded. In addition to the support offered by professionals, users are to have the opportunity to exchange their concerns, fears, and wishes with persons who are experts because they have similar experiences.

This approach is anchored in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and its expansion is therefore demanded in the National Action Plan 2020: “All people with disabilities are to have the possibility to receive advice on job-related matters from an independent body – particularly from persons who are affected themselves and can offer ‘peer counselling’” (National Action plan 5.1.2.).

Similar methodological approaches can be found in working with people in the context of substance abuse (see ‘Grüner Kreis’, etc.); schools rely on peer mediation to improve the school climate; the military and emergency forces use peer advice models in the area of preventive support when it comes to preventing post-traumatic stress disorders…

Research is intensively dedicated to the application areas and structures of peer advice and its contexts. The relationship between peer counselling and Social Work as an affiliated profession is to be explored with regard to cooperation and joint coexistence as well as mutually dependent factors. 

The objective is to work out the status quo in Austria or in the individual provinces and to specify and refine the research questions within the framework of the project workshop. Students write bachelor theses on the topic either individually or in groups. A joint publication of all insights, results, and knowledge is planned but its form is still open.