A major component of the Performance-based Diploma Program is peer counseling. The teacher, trained in peer counseling, coordinates with the PBDP guidance counselor on specific student or group process issues. The peer counseling groups are formed based on student time schedules. Every student, in addition to three academic lab periods, has a fourth period for peer counseling. Topics discussed include work, employment skills, money, finances, living conditions and arrangements, treatment by other students in the school, and classes.
Students are also able to informally access career information and counseling through mentors.
Many students are matched to an adult mentor who meets with the student on a weekly basis throughout the year. Their employers provide release time to the mentors in order that they may spend time with their students. The mentors serve a variety of functions, including being a role model, offering strategies and formulas for achievement, passing on values of the business community, and helping students understand the links between education and work. For some students, the mentors are a critical support person who listens to their problems and concerns and helps them arrive at strategies and solutions. They help students set short-term and longer range goals and show them how to break the cycle of failure that many have experienced.