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The Power of Peer Support: Walking Alongside Someone Towards Recovery
I remember the nights I’d cry, looking in the mirror, not recognizing the girl I was looking at. I wanted and needed a way out. With so much shame and stigma around substance use and mental health, I did not know how to ask for help. The process of calling detoxes and getting certain documents...
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City Voices: A Peer‑Run Legacy of Connection, Recovery, and Community
In 1995, a man named Ken Steele began what he described as his recovery from a “30‑year schizophrenic odyssey.” His story stretched across the United States — from Hawaii to New York City — through periods of homelessness, halfway houses, and profound disconnection. Everything changed...
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Amplifying Peer Specialists in the Behavioral Health Continuum of Care
We have witnessed the ongoing strain on our traditional mental health care system over the past five years. There is a growing need for help across communities, where help seekers are experiencing nuanced mental health challenges. From suicidality, stress, bullying, substance misuse, to family...
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Westchester County Develops “Lives Forward” Program – Providing Dual Certification MH and Addiction Peer Training to Currently Justice Involved Individuals
The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” Few things illustrate this better than using one’s lived experience to support another person seeking recovery from co-occurring disorders. Now formally recognized as “peer”...
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Re-imagining Conservatorship: Recovery and Career Planning Through Peer Support
For most young people, career guidance centers on traditional roles—doctor, teacher, engineer, builder. Rarely does anyone tell a child struggling with a mental health condition that their experiences might one day qualify them for a career rooted in healing, empathy, and shared understanding....
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What It’s Really Like Living with Bipolar Disorder
As of 2019, 0.53% of people in the world are bipolar, according to a study from the World Health Organization. I am one of them. Living with bipolar disorder isn’t easy. Scholarly journals document the symptoms and struggles that come with this disorder, but they’re far from accurate. Common...
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Hope, Healing, and Peer Support: A Path Through Depression
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated 1 in 5 teenagers experience depression, and 1 in 12 adults have experienced depression in their lifetime.¹ Depression can be a devastating illness; symptoms may include persistent sadness, hopelessness, loss of enjoyment in...
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How My Suicide Attempts Made Me a Better Crisis Peer Specialist
Trigger Alert: If you or someone you know is disturbed by the descriptions of suicide (attempts) in this article, please consult a behavioral health provider or contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Past is Prologue for Premature Life and Death Car crash, asphyxiation, throat slash,...
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WeSpeakNYC: A Toolkit for Overcoming Mental Health Stigma in BIPOC Communities
Research has consistently demonstrated that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities experience disproportionately low access and utilization of mental health services in the United States. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)...
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Stories of Stigma in the Healthcare System
For Hands Across Long Island, Inc. (HALI), stigma in healthcare is personal. As a peer-run organization, our mental health recovery “lived expertise” informs our services, which all address structural stigma or population-level disparities experienced by people having...
