Peer support toolkit

Young people often listen most to people their own age.

What is peer support?

Peer support is when people of a similar age, background or identity share their experiences and give each other knowledge and emotional, social or practical support. It ranges from informal conversations between friends to formal programs with trained peer support leaders. Peer support programs are typically most effective among young people.

Peer support programs draw on the credibility young people have with each other. Peer leaders model healthy choices, share messages their friends are more likely to listen to, and influence what their peers know and think about alcohol and other drugs. This builds protective factors and reduces risk factors; you can read more about these in prevention strategies.

Peer support for prevention, not treatment

In the Local Drug Action Team program, peer support focuses on preventing alcohol and other drug harm. Peer support in treatment and recovery, including the work of alcohol and other drug peer support workers, is a different area and is outside the LDAT program. That’s why LDAT programs talk about peer support leaders rather than peer support workers.

Peer support programs in Australia

• Peer Support Australia: a student-led wellbeing program for primary and high schools, with more than 620 member schools and 50 years of practice.

How Local Drug Action Teams use it

Local Drug Action Teams use this toolkit to plan peer support programs with young people in their community. That can mean training peer support leaders that young people nominate themselves, running peer-led education, or setting up a peer health club where young people meet to talk about health in a supported setting, such as at school, a community garden or a sporting club. Some programs run online, which suits young people spread across a large area. ADF’s Peer Support Module, developed and piloted with Local Drug Action Teams, guides them step by step through planning and delivering a program. Peer support works well alongside mentoring, sport and arts programs.

Where it fits in the LDAT program

Local Drug Action Teams use this toolkit as part of their Community Action Plan (CAP).

How Local Drug Action Teams are responding

• Peer-to-peer support in the Blue Mountains: the Blue Mountains LDAT used this toolkit to set up youth peer-to-peer support for 12 to 17-year-olds spread across the mountains.
• Mandurah LDAT peer-led AOD education: young people workshopped and filmed short videos about handling social situations and staying safe, to share with their friends.
• Kimberley basketball: the Basketball WA Kimberley LDAT combines basketball with alcohol and other drug education, peer leadership and life skills across 31 sites.
• Peer support through country football in the Wheatbelt: senior players trained as peer support ambassadors across seven football clubs, one of the programs on our community sport page.

The full toolkit gives Local Drug Action Teams practical guidance, including:

• existing peer support programs and approaches LDATs can draw on, including ADF’s Peer Support Module
• guiding principles: what works, what to avoid, and the qualities of good peer support leaders
• considerations for planning and delivery, including partners, resources, online delivery and safety
• key activity and measuring success
• seven key steps, from consultation and recruiting peer support leaders to training, matching and supervision.

If you’re part of a Local Drug Action Team, you can use the full toolkit on the LDAT platform.

Last reviewed: 4 November 2026