Peer Support: Six Mental "Apps" for Meaningful Conversations

As a facilitator and support professional, I work with peers and colleagues who often face complex challenges that don't have simple solutions. Whether someone is navigating workplace stress, personal transitions, or feeling stuck in their goals, I've found that having a structured approach to supportive conversations makes all the difference.

That's why I developed what I call "The Facilitator's Dashboard" – a mental toolkit of six core conversational modules that I access internally, like apps on a phone. Each "app" serves a specific purpose and gives me a structured way to guide peer support conversations with intention and impact.

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Why I Created This Framework

In my work, I regularly support peers through difficult situations, and I noticed I needed a better system for knowing how to guide effectively in any given moment. As peer specialists, we don't give advice or try to fix problems – we guide people to find their own answers and solutions. I wanted frameworks that were:

• Intuitive enough to remember and access mentally under pressure

• Flexible enough to work across different types of conversations

• Practical enough to provide concrete guidance

• Empowering people to navigate their own journey

The Mental "Apps"

These aren't actual software applications – they're internal frameworks I've trained myself to access during conversations. Think of them as mental models that live in my head, each with its own purpose and set of guiding questions.

🗺️ The Rideshare App

When someone feels lost or without direction

I mentally "open" this framework to help guide them through establishing their journey: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? What route should we take? It transforms aimless venting into purposeful self-discovery.

☀️ The Weather App

When emotions are running high

This mental framework provides a non-judgmental way to guide someone through assessing their current emotional states and planning for future challenges. It normalizes feelings as temporary conditions rather than permanent states.

📅 The Calendar App

When there are known stressors or milestones ahead

This internal model helps guide them to connect emotional "weather" to external timeline pressures, moving from reactive to proactive thinking.

🖼️ The Photo Editor App

When someone needs to reimagine their future

This mental framework guides them to shift focus from "fixing what's broken" to "creating what's beautiful" while honoring their authentic self.

❤️‍🩹 The Whole Health App

When everything feels overwhelming

This internal approach guides them to break down big, vague goals like "get my life together" into specific, manageable actions across different life areas.

🧘 The Calm App

When someone is in acute distress

This mental toolkit provides frameworks to guide immediate emotional regulation and grounding, focusing on co-regulation rather than problem-solving.

Real-World Peer Support Scenarios

Scenario 1: The Overwhelmed Colleague A peer approaches you saying they're completely burned out and everything feels impossible. Instead of offering solutions, you might mentally access the Weather App first to guide them through understanding their current emotional state ("What's your internal weather looking like today?"), then move to the Whole Health App to guide them in breaking down their overwhelming situation into manageable pieces.

Scenario 2: The Stuck Team Member Someone shares that they feel trapped in their current role but don't know what they want instead. This calls for the Rideshare App framework – guiding them to identify where they are now (the pickup location), envision where they want to be (the destination), and explore possible paths forward (the routes), while helping them acknowledge what they're willing to invest in the journey (the fare).

How It Works in Practice

Instead of wondering "What should I ask next?" I now think "Which mental app should I access?" The metaphor feels natural and helps me stay focused on guiding the person toward their own insights rather than steering them toward predetermined solutions.

The beauty of this system is that I'm not fumbling for the right approach – I have six clear frameworks to choose from based on what's presenting itself in the conversation. Each one keeps me in the role of guide rather than advisor.

Why I Built the Interactive Dashboard

While these frameworks live in my head and guide my conversations internally, I wanted a way to share them concretely with other facilitators and support professionals. That's why I created an interactive online dashboard – not because I actually open anything on my computer during conversations, but because having it in concrete detail helps me:

• Train others on these mental models

• Refine the frameworks by seeing them laid out systematically

• Remember the specific questions that make each "app" effective for guiding

• Share a common language with colleagues who want to use similar approaches

The dashboard is essentially a training tool and reference guide for developing these internal frameworks. Once you internalize them, you carry this mental toolkit with you into every conversation.

The Real Impact

This framework transforms conversations from well-meaning but scattered interactions into purposeful, guided dialogues. Most importantly, it helps me stay true to the peer specialist approach – guiding people to navigate their own journey, rather than directing them where I think they should go.

The mental dashboard reminds me that my role is to help people find their own answers by accessing the right internal framework and asking the right guiding questions at the right time.

Ben Overby