<![CDATA[This community engagement program aimed to strengthen the capacity of youth in Pulau Banyak Village, Langkat Regency, to provide early peer support through counseling training integrated with QR Code Storytelling. Fifteen core participants took part in a series of activities, including needs assessment, counseling skill training, case simulations, digital-content production, mentoring, and program evaluation. The training sessions introduced essential peer-counseling competencies, such as active listening, empathic responses, open-ended questioning, confidentiality, role boundaries, and appropriate referral procedures. Case stories developed by participants were transformed into digital educational content and connected to QR codes, enabling independent access and repeated review. Program effectiveness was evaluated using pretest and posttest scores, practice-observation sheets, and mentoring notes. The participants’ mean score increased from 54 before the training to 88 after the intervention, while 86% successfully completed the counseling simulation according to the established skill rubric. The program also produced a concise counseling module, 25 QR codes, educational posters, and a reusable community referral procedure. These results demonstrate that integrating peer counseling with accessible digital media can provide a practical, low-cost, and replicable strategy for strengthening youth knowledge, counseling skills, confidence, and active participation in community-based early support initiatives for vulnerable peers in their local environment.]]>
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