Overview of Program

The Icahn School of Medicine’s medical student PEERS program consists of a nine session curriculum, which is outlined below, that is integrated across and embedded within all four years of the students’ medical education. Integrating PEERS within orientation and InFocus weeks enables this peer-led well-being program to be part of medical student training and situates wellness as a critical component of their clinical practice and professional development as aspiring physicians. The organizational structure of MedEd (UME) PEERS consists of a core group of students, representing second-year through fourth-year medical students, who make up the MedEd PEERS Leadership Team. In addition, approximately 15 students per medical class elect to serve as trained PEERS Facilitators who proctor and run the PEERS sessions. Both student roles are longitudinal in nature to promote continuity within the program’s content and connection amongst students.

MedEd (UME) PEERS Curriculum

Session #1 (Orientation) – Intro to PEERS: What We Wish We Knew & Letter to Future Self

Session #2 (InFocus 1) – Self-Compassion: Turning Empathy Inward

Session #3 (InFocus 2) – Maintaining Self: Living by Our Values

Session #4 (InFocus 3) – Fail Forward: Embracing Imperfection

Session #5 (InFocus 4) – Signature Strengths: Leveraging the Best of Us

Session #6 (InFocus 5) – On Empathy: For Patients, Colleagues, & Self

Session #7 (InFocus 6) – Yes, And: Appreciating Ambivalence

Session #8 (InFocus 7) – Self-Authorship: Writing Our Stories, Owning Our Narratives

Session #9 (InFocus 8) – Gratitude: Appreciating How Things Came to Be