Learning Academy Session: Peer Mentoring and Peer Support

“Although the review identified inconsistencies in the definition of peer mentors across studies and international borders, this had little impact on answering the question of their effectiveness from the perspective of both mentees and peer mentors. The review found a mixed and complex picture of effectiveness, with strong evidence that peer mentors benefit subjectively, such as reduced stigma, life satisfaction, improved coping strategies, social capital, motivation to change, and the development of pro-social attitudes (LeBel et al., 2015), particularly when integrated into formal criminal justice interventions that validate their new identities and experiential knowledge. In addition, the review concludes that peer mentor
interventions can effectively provide mentees with key conditions such as listening, caring, and encouragement (Buck, 2018), and when combined with formal criminal justice interventions, they can enhance subjective factors contributing to the desistance process for mentees (Matthews, 2021; Telfer et al., 2021). The strongest evidence has been found for prison leavers receiving peer mentor support while transitioning back into the community from a peer mentor who has successfully managed the transition (Matthews et al., 2019; Sells et al., 2020).”

 

(Brierley, Best, McDermott & Woodfield, 2025)

 

1. Buck, G. (2018). The core conditions of peer mentoring. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 18(2), 190–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817699659

2. Buck, G. (2019). Politicisation or professionalisation? Exploring divergent aims within UK voluntary sector peer mentoring. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 58(3), 349–365. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12305

3. Buck, G. (2020). Peer mentoring in criminal justice. Routledge.

4. Buck, G. (2021). Mentoring and peer mentoring. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.

 

5.  Buck, G., Lawrence, A., & Ragonese, E. (2017). Exploring peer mentoring as a form of innovative practice with young people at risk of child sexual exploitation. British Journal of Social Work, 47(6), 1745–1763. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcx089

 

6. Buck, G., Tomczak, P., & Quinn, K. (2022). This is how it feels: Activating lived experience in the penal voluntary sector. The British Journal of Criminology, 62(4), 822–839. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab102 

 

7. Brierley, A., Best, D., Mcdermott, D., & Woodfield, R. (2025). Peer Mentors and Desistance: A Systematic Literature Review and Synthesis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241313387

 

8. Bussu, A., Creaney, S., Price, J., Burns, S., & Myles, K. (2024). “It’s a sixth sense. . . I see you, you see me, and we’ve been there”: Benefits and challenges of developing a peer mentoring scheme with young people in youth justice services. British Journal of Community Justice, 19, 4–19. https://chesterrep.openrepository.com/handle/10034/629019

 

9. Elisha, E. (2022). Inmates in the role of the “wounded healer””: The virtuous of peer-to-peer programs in prison. International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 11, 11–14. https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2022.11.02

 

10. Elisha, E. (2023). Ex-convicts in an official role of peer-supporters: Toward convict therapy. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 67(15), 1565–1580. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X231159890 

 

11. Elisha, E., & Shachaf-Friedman, E. (2023). “For the first time in My life, My past is an advantage”: The perceived effects of professional peer work on wounded healers in the field of drug addiction. Addiction Research & Theory, 32(6), 477–486. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2023.2294878

 

12. Jang, S. J., Johnson, B. R., Hays, J., Hallett, M., & Duwe, G. (2020). Prisoners helping prisoners change: A study of inmate field ministers within Texas prisons. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 64(5),470–497. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X19872966

 

13. Kavanagh, L., & Borrill, J. (2013). Exploring the experiences of ex-offender mentors. Probation Journal, 60(4), 400–414. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264550513502247

 

14. Kirkwood, S. (2023). “A wee kick up the arse”: Mentoring, motivation and desistance from crime. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 23(2), 183–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211043691

 

15. LeBel, T. P. (2007). An examination of the impact of formerly incarcerated persons helping others. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 46(1–2), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509670802071485

 

16. LeBel, T. P., Richie, M., & Maruna, S. (2015). Helping others as a response to reconcile a criminal past: The role of the wounded healer in prisoner reentry programs. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42(1), 108–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854814550029

 

17. Lopez-Humphreys, M., & Teater, B. (2020). “It’s what’s on the inside that counts”: A pilot study of the subjective changes among returned citizens participating in a peer-mentor support initiative. Journal of Social Service Research, 46(6), 741–755. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2019.1656699

 

18. Matthews, E. (2021). Peer-focused prison reentry programs: Which peer characteristics matter most? Incarceration, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663211019958

 

19. Nixon, S. (2019). “I just want to give something back”: Peer work in prison. Prison Service Journal, 44–53. https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/6972/ 

 

20. Nixon, S. (2020). “Giving back and getting on with my life”: Peer mentoring, desistance and recovery of ex-offenders. Probation Journal, 67(1), 47–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264550519900249

 

21. Nixon, S. (2023). The dynamics of peer support work in a UK adult male prison: A way of performing positive masculinities? Incarceration, 4. https://doi.org/10.1177/26326663231169903

 

22. Perrin, C. (2022). Maximizing the utility of peer support in carceral settings: A few stumbling blocks to consider. European Journal of Criminology, 19(4), 730–745. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370820919717

 

23. Sells, D., Curtis, A., Abdur-Raheem, J., Klimczak, M., Barber, C., Meaden, C., Hasson, J., Fallon, P., & Emigh-Guy, M. (2020). Peer-mentored community reentry reduces recidivism. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 47(4), 437–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854820901562

 

24.  Smith, A. (2024). Peer mentoring and identity transformation in a women’s prison. Journal of Criminal Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-08-2024-0066

 

25. Taylor, C. J. (2020). Mentee and mentor perceptions of a mentoring court for high-risk probationers. Probation Journal, 67(3), 214–227. https://doi.org/10.1177/0264550520939174

 

26. Telfer, J., Markowski, M., Duthoit, S., Malamateniou, C., & Smith, D. (2021). Prisoners’ feedback on a formally set-up peer mentoring scheme in a prison in South East England. Prison Service Journal, 256, 30–37. https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/35198/

 

27. Wong, K., & Horan, R. (2021). Mentoring: Can you get too much of a “good thing”? Proposing enhancements to the “effectiveness framework” the England and Wales Prison and Probation Service. European Journal of Probation,13(3), 207–225. https://doi.org/10.1177/20662203211024105

 

28. Woods, M. (2020). “Helping others and helping myself”: Wounded healers as peer workers. Irish Probation Journal, 17, 191–211.