An intro on peer pods
We believe everyone is and feels their best when they have supportive contexts: spaces where you feel like you belong and can grow in ways that matter to you alongside people who actually care about you. Unfortunately, a lot of us don’t have easy access to spaces where we can show up authentically and have real conversations with genuine people that help us get unstuck, move forward, and thrive in our lives.
We hate that so many spaces whether IRL or online feel like they’re not built for us as people – especially neurodivergent ones.
So let’s start with what peer pods are not.
Peer pods are not about:
- awkward small talk
- transactional relationships
- having to worry about whether or not asking for help will hurt your “personal brand”
Instead, peer pods are your chance to make meaningful connections with peers on similar journeys.
It’s a way to build your network and make friends in a very human way – where no one’s thinking about what they can immediately get but instead trying to do what they can to help everyone succeed alongside one another.
It’s an accessible way to ask for and share help, insights, advice, and favours while creating deep bonds with people you grow to care about.
That sounds rad… so what exactly is a peer pod?
Peer pods are handpicked, tight-knit groups of 8-12 people who come together around a shared purpose or goal. You get to know each other over a three month period with regular meets and a private group chat where asking questions and sharing experiences doesn’t feel like you’re just screaming into a void of infinite (often faceless) people on the internet. Members of each pod are also committed to respecting each other’s confidentiality – meaning no one shares identifying info about other group members without their permission.
What’s the goal?
The point of these groups is to give you a chance of forming ‘friendtors’ – mutually supportive relationships where you’re growing in ways that matter to you, alongside people you genuinely enjoy talking to – people who could become an important part of your life.
We hope through peer pods you meet someone who a month or even a few years from now you look back at and say “oh my god I’m so glad that I met this person”.
How it works:
There are two types of pods, conversation-focused and skills-focused pods.
Conversation-focused pods are groups where you ask for and share advice and insights on your career or personal life with people on a similar journey. It’s a group of supportive peers that help you grow and troubleshoot any challenges you’re running into through chatting. Example groups could be things like working through a new autism diagnosis, breaking into tech, or being a neurodivergent leader growing a team. Most of the value comes through chatting with one another and learning from the collective wisdom of the group – like from others’ hard-won lessons. These groups meet live biweekly & have their own private chat.
Then there’s skills-focused pods where the people paired together are collectively working towards building a specific skill and sharing knowledge around it. In these groups, you’re not just talking to each other, but also doing some active co-focusing. For example, you might join a coding club with people who all want to develop their coding skills. In your live meets, you might talk about your goal and then code together for an hour, before debriefing and sharing things you’ve learned or just talking about how life is generally going. The group chat is a great resource in between your meets to share updates, ask questions, talk about where you’ve been getting stuck, and send resources. These groups meet live weekly & have their own private chat.
Across both pod types, just getting to know each other as humans and playful forms of connection like sending memes are welcome too.
How to sign up to join a peer pod:
- If you’re not already an ND Connect member, apply to join.
- note: we have an application process to help create a welcoming and inclusive space.
- Once your application is approved, you’ll be able to create a profile and start exploring the space.
- You’ll see the opportunity to sign-up for peer pods on the home page.
- Sign up to be matched to a pod by answering a few questions that give us helpful info on what would support you best in this season of your life.
- Our team will contact you with more details about your pod once all the pods have been finalized.
