Peer Support Programs
Peer support programs are lived experience–led initiatives where individuals draw on their own experiences of mental health challenges, recovery, or adversity to support others on similar journeys. Grounded in mutuality, empathy, and shared understanding, these programs create safe, non-judgmental spaces where people can connect, learn, and grow together. Peer support can take many forms, including:
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One-to-one support
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Group programs
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Community-based initiatives and
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Digital platforms
Unlike traditional clinical models, peer support is based on equality and reciprocity, recognising lived experience as a form of expertise rather than something to be treated.
Youth Peer Support empowers youth to navigate life transitions with confidence by providing strength-based peer support grounded in lived experience, hope, and self-determination.
Connecticut Youth Peer Support
Peer Pathways to Wellness
Peer Pathways to Wellness is Colorado Mental Wellness Network's trailblazing direct peer support service program! Their Peer Support Professionals work with and support those who are experiencing life challenges such as homelessness, criminal justice system-involvement, substance use conditions, mental health conditions, trauma, and more.
518 PeerConnect
518 PeerConnect is the peer support and outreach program of Mental Hhealth Empowerment Program, designed for individuals who have a mental health-related diagnosis or are dually diagnosed (mental health and substance use). Its services focus on empowerment, connection, and self-directed recovery rather than traditional clinical treatment.
Peer Understanding, Leadership, Support, By Empowerment
(PULSE)
The PULSE Program empowers youth and young adults to build wellness, resilience, and confidence through a recovery‑oriented model grounded in lived experience. Every participant is supported by Certified Peer Professionals, known within the program as PULSE Peer Specialists, who draw from their own journeys in child‑ and adult‑serving systems. This lived expertise allows the team to offer support that is authentic, empathetic, and deeply relatable.
The Rural Peer Project
The Rural Peer Project (RPP) is a statewide initiative designed to bridge gaps in behavioral health services for Pennsylvania’s rural communities. Many rural residents experience barriers to care, and RPP addresses these challenges through peer-led support, training, and virtual service delivery.
Community-based Peers
Peers are individuals with lived experience. Peers are available in the community and integrated into existing services (ex: hospitals, outpatient clinics, etc.) to support individuals on their positive pathways to behavioral health and wellness. Our peers serve as educators, advocates, supporters, and connectors to other resources.
Peer Education, Empowerment and Re-Entry Services
The Peer Education, Empowerment, and Re-Entry Services (PEERS) program provides peer-led mental health support, systems navigation, and re-entry guidance for individuals impacted by incarceration. Led by credible messengers with lived experience, PEERS empowers justice-involved individuals to build stability, wellness, and a successful future in their communities.
Peer Support Groups
Project Return manages a network of more than 125 peer led support groups throughout Los Angeles County and online. Groups meet weekly in a variety of locations, including inpatient settings, board and care homes, shelters, motels, outpatient clinics and community spaces, putting peer support within easy reach of interested individuals. Groups are 1-2 hours and are led by credible messengers—people with lived experience. Each group is individualised and is self-directed. Focuses range from discussion/processing groups to activity-based groups like art and yoga to socialisation groups in the community. Activities and curriculum are created by the group facilitators, participants and supported by our team of Regional Coordinators. For many, these peer support groups are the first steps towards recovery, self-help and wellness.
Peer Support 101
In Peer Support 101, you learn the basics of Peer Support: What it is, isn't, and why it's important. A CPSS is a trained professional providing individualised recovery-focused services. In this role, the CPSS offers hope, support, and advocacy to others through sharing his or her own experiences of living in recovery with mental illness and/or substance use disorder.
Peer Intensive Care Specialists (PICS)
Peer Intensive Care Specialists (PICS) provide within all four Tennessee Regional Mental Health Institutes (RMHI) and seven of Tennessee’s Crisis Stabilization Units (CSU). They
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Facilitate peer support groups using a structured format for program service recipients
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Recovery Education Groups
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Introduce program service recipients to Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP®)
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Share personal stories of recovery with program service recipients to inspire hope
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Co-facilitate Crisis Recovery Groups for program service recipients
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Participate in Treatment Team Meetings when possible
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Assist in discharge planning for program service recipients and obtain discharge appointments for follow-up
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Provide 1:1 peer support/peer engagement with program service recipients on the CSU/RMHI unit
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Provide program service recipients with information about community resources, especially peer-led resources such as Building Recovery of Individual Dreams and Goals through Education (BRIDGES) and Support classes, WRAP® classes, and peer support groups
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Inform service recipients about the PICS Program.
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Obtain Informed Consent and Protected Health Information Releases prior to service recipient’s discharge.
PeerLINK
PeerLink offers peer-to-peer-delivered services under an MCO/Medicaid contract. Since 2007, TMHCA has provided Peer-to-Peer recovery-based services to TennCare Medicaid Enrollees who are members of a Managed Care Organisation and who qualify and have been determined eligible for benefits in the TennCare Program through Medicaid eligibility criteria as described in the Medicaid/TennCare Rules and Regulations.
Peer To Peer Group
Participants of the Web find that a Peer Mentor is a valuable tool for recovery from mental health issues and substance abuse. A Peer Mentor engages participants in regaining control over their lives, over their recovery process and empowers them to live life to their fullest vision. Participants may choose to work one-on-one with a Peer Mentor on staff at the Web, but also will find many opportunities to form mentorships with other participants in the program.
Kaiser Permanente
In a partnership between GMHCN and Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, they provide peer support to any of their members in recovery from mental illness or addictive disease. These members are located throughout the state, but primarily in the Atlanta Metro Area. On paper, the goal of the program is to decrease hospitalisation and increase outpatient utilisation.
Action Planning For Prevention and Recovery
(APPR)
Action Planning for Prevention and Recovery (APPR) is a self-directed recovery and wellness program designed to promote personal awareness, health, and life transformation. In APPR groups, individuals learn more about APPR and how to complete their own plan from trained APPR facilitators, who share self-help concepts, skills, and strategies.
The Lived Experience Hub maps 22 peer support programs, ranging from community-based peer support groups to online networks and specialised peer workers supporting consumers within services. These programs highlight the diversity of peer support models and demonstrate how lived experience can be applied across different settings. Peer support programs are a core example of lived experience in action—working directly with consumers to provide connection, understanding, and recovery-oriented support
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