PEERS ENVISIONING AND ENGAGING IN RECOVERY SERVICES

Peers Envisioning and Engaging in Recovery Services (PEERS) Program Description and AccomplishmentsFY 2024-2025From July 2024 through June 2025, PEERS served a diverse group of 996 unduplicated participants across all of our programs, plus an additional 3,300 people reached through outreach, speaking engagement events, and webinars, whose names we did not capture. Peer support groups are the core of our work. In 2024-25, we offered 392 peer support group sessions, including:Taking Action for Whole Health and Wellbeing: Following an evidence-based curriculum, peers share stories, ideas and insights and come up with a personal plan for getting well and staying well.Youth Collective: Leadership development and wellness for young people.Buried in Treasures: An evidence-based curriculum focuses on support and skill-building to give participants tools to manage moderate to severe hoarding/cluttering.Special Messages: Peer support around hearing voices and receiving other messages that others dont.Hope & Faith: Peer support around wellness among members of African American faith communities.Healing Our Past and Expectations (HOPE): Peer support wellness groups adapted by and for Asian Americans from an evidence-based curriculum.Latine Community Mental Wellness: Peer support wellness groups adapted by and for Latine communities from an evidence-based curriculum.Black Wellness and Resilience: Peer support wellness groups adapted by and for African Americans from an evidence-based curriculum.Impact example: 92% of PEERS participants reported that the group or workshop helped them have hope.Participants gain new information, skills, and tools to support their wellness through PEERS programs. In 2024-25, we offered 79 workshops and presentations, served 53 older adults through individual services, and reached 316 community members with anti-stigma speaking engagements, including:Transition-age youth wellness workshops: Youth-developed workshops on multiple topics.Other wellness workshops: Presented where community members gather; topics included youth mental health, the SAMHSA Eight Dimensions of Wellness, spirituality and peer support, and more.Lift Every Voice and Speak: Speakers bureau members tell their recovery stories in the community.Program for Encouraging Active and Rewarding Lives (PEARLS): A holistic, evidence-based service focused on skill building and problem-solving that supports isolated older adults who have depression.Impact example: 93% of participants see themselves using what they learned from PEERS in the future and 92% understand more about their mental health and wellness.Leadership development among people with mental health challenges combats internalized stigma. In 2024-25, PEERS offered the following leadership development opportunities:Lift Every Voice and Speak: Speakers bureau members develop public speaking and advocacy skills and tell their stories in the community.Taking Action Facilitator Training and Mentoring: Certification and ongoing support for peers leading Taking Action groups.Everyone Counts Campaign: Latine Community Mental Wellness Fellows group plans and leads anti-stigma efforts.Impact example: 85% reported that they feel better about their life as a result of PEERS services.Positive images and stories about people with mental health experiences help change community members attitudes. In 2024-25, PEERS reached 316 community members through anti-stigma speaking engagements:Lift Every Voice and Speak: Speakers bureau members tell their stories in the community.Media: Email blasts, blog posts, social media, and traditional media stories countering stigma.Community Outreach: Disseminating anti-stigma messages through visibility at community events.Impact example: 95% of audience members in speakers bureau presentations reported that after the presentation, they feel people with mental health experiences can grow, change, and recover.Peers Organizing Community Change (POCC)Peers Organizing Community Change (POCC) is a group of mental health consumer advocates. PEERS provided fiscal and administration support that included logistics for POCC members to attend the annual conferences and provided assistance to coordinate POCC meetings, conferences, and other events.