Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Airlangga

Keep Serving in The Amidst of Pandemic: Peer Counselor Training as Preventive and Curative Efforts on Fighting Bullying

Covid-19 pandemic does not seem like a barrier for the Faculty of Psychology Universitas Airlangga to keep running one of the pillars of Tridarma Perguruan Tinggi, it is social services. On last August 29-30th, Faculty of Psychology Universitas Airlangga successfully ran a virtual social activities titled “Peer Counselor Training as Preventive and Curative Efforts on Fighting Bullying”. Working together with SMAN 1 Tanggul, Faculty of Psychology Universitas Airlangga trained 30 students to be peer counselors in order to fight bullying cases that frequently happen in nowadays life.

The coordinator of the activity, Herdina Indrijati, M.Psi., Psikolog, said that students are expected to be the agent of change to solve problems related to bullying among their ages. Herdina, as a lecturer in Department of Educational and Developmental Psychology, taught students about basic skill that need to be internalized in order to be good peer counselor.

Besides Herdina, there were three other speakers who attended that virtual activities. They are Yustisiana Hidayati, M.Psi., Psikolog, Zakiah Ulya, M.Psi., Psikolog, and IPDA I Wayan Putra Radityawan. The subjects matter according to the order of the speakers is as follow:

  • Knowing Bullying More as A Preventive Effort of Bullying Itself
  • How to Be Best Friend for Bullying Victims
  • Legal Consequences for Child Bullying

The headmaster of SMAN 1 Tanggul, Dora Indriana, welcomed the activities warmly and wished that the activities could possibly improve the awarness of the students regarding bullying cases around them.
“We are really happy to welcome Faculty of Psychology Universitas Airlangga at our school. I think this training is really important because bullying cases happen frequently and students need to know what to do about it” Dora said in her welcoming speech.

Students who attended the two-days activites expressed their hapiness and they wished that Faculty of Psychology Universitas Airlangga can give more training regarding more topics in the future.
“I am really happy because i got an opportunity to attend the entire activity. Now i know about bullying more than i was and know what to do if it happens” said Vicky Ahmad, one of the sophomore student in SMAN 1 Tanggul.
Besides Vicky, Ribka Pertiwi, one of senior student who attended the activity, said that the subject matters are very useful.
“Because of this training, My friends and I finally understand about bullying cases and we know how to be a good peer counselor” Ribka said.

By holding this activities, Faculty of Psychology Universitas Airlangga hopes that students can actively contribute in decreasing prevalance of bullying cases among teenagers and able to create better environment to support optimal development of teenagers in the future.

~Rhajiv