In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about Pathways Vermont’s partnership to provide peer support at the Howard Center’s Mental Health Urgent Care (MHUC) in Burlington, VT. This interagency and interdisciplinary collaboration brings together partners from our state’s largest medical center, community health center, designated community mental health agency, and peer support agency. We will talk about the challenges and successes our peer support team has experienced while working alongside clinicians and medically trained staff to support people in crisis. J Helms, Director of Training & Advocacy, will give an overview of the collaboration, from early discussions to grand opening, which made this partnership successful. This will include an overview of the peer support values training series which is provided to MHUC staff across disciplines, including clinicians. Matt Kimball, Peer Support Team Lead, will share about the day-to-day operations of collaborating with the Howard Center at the MHUC, emerging innovative practices, as well as lessons learned.

Artificial intelligence is advancing quickly, raising complex questions about how it should be used in mental health, substance use health, and especially within peer support. Panelists working in the tech space with peer support invite peer supporters, program leaders, and people with lived and living experience to help shape the principles that will guide how AI is implemented by technology companies in the future. Rather than showcasing a product, this dialogue-based session offers a platform for participants to identify opportunities, boundaries, and risks that must be considered to protect the integrity and values of peer support. Through structured, facilitated discussion, attendees will explore how technology can evolve responsibly without replacing the human connection at the heart of peer support. The goal is simple: ensure that the voice of the peer support community leads the direction of AI development in this space.

Peer support is recognized as a critical service enhancing engagement across the continuum of care from emergency departments to community-based organizations. Guided by their lived experience, peer supports provide emotional, practical and social support and meet individuals where they are at in their eating disorder journey, decreasing isolation, and enhancing motivation and readiness for change.

Peer supporters can play a pivotal role in supporting individual while they wait for specialized services, compliment traditional care and provide system navigation across different sectors. In this workshop, we will identify the best and emerging practices for delivering peer support for those impacted by eating disorders and in different contexts. Finally, we will learn about the Peer Support model delivered by Eating Disorder Nova Scotia, including their training model and lessons learned.

This session will explore the journey of implementing peer support in clinical settings, from early partnership conversations to the ongoing processes of having peer supporters on site. We will share successes and challenges, highlighting key factors such as intentional hiring, staff education, ongoing training, supervision, and leadership commitment. Participants will learn about strategies to prepare clinical teams, the importance of values-based practices, and how to navigate systemic barriers. We will also examine differences between urban and rural contexts, including workforce and resource and community differences. By the end, participants will gain practical insights into how peer support can be successfully integrated into health care while maintaining authenticity to peer support values. This presentation offers lessons learned, strategies for sustainability, and evidence of peer support’s value as a vital component of mental health care.

Lifewise has eight peer supporters working on every unit of our provincial tertiary care Mental Health and Addiction Centre (MHAC). Staff work in acute care, geriatrics, forensics, short stay, the psych emerg, and are the first staff person people see upon entering the hospital. This session will focus on (1) the advocacy efforts that created this program, (2) how implementation and program delivery occurs, (3) how the program has been transformative for peers, (4) how peer supporters reduce stigma and become central figures for psychiatrists and other clinicians in understanding what peers want and need while recovering within the hospital.

Lifewise has grown from 19 staff in 2020 to a staff complement of almost 70 at current. Over 60 of these staff are frontline peer support workers, who will combine to offer over 40,000 peer support sessions this year. As Lifewise has grown, there has been considerable work done to create a psychologically safeworkplace that enables sustainable employment. This presentation will tell the story of this growth, with a particularly focus on several areas, including: (1) Hiring for Mission, (2) Implementing peer support friendly HR policies, (2) Adopting the Psychological Safe Workplace Standards from CSA, (3) Creating a Leadership team that supports people and mission-driven success.

This interactive activity features rotating stations, each focused on a different harm reduction strategy to support individuals who may not be ready to commit to sobriety but want to stay safer. Topics include safer consumption techniques, recognizing signs of overdose, how to access and use naloxone, etc. Each station offers practical skills training with the aid of visuals, informational pamphlets, and demonstration materials such as naloxone kits to account for individual differences in learning styles. Participants will gain hands-on experience and knowledge, allowing them to leave with tangible tools to reduce the risks associated with substance use.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

Families Matter is dedicated to promoting optimal child development by empowering families to build resilience and nurture strong, positive relationships. A common misconception is that infants are too young to benefit from mental wellness support. However, research shows that stress experienced by caregivers can have immediate and lasting effects on an infant’s developing stress response systems, as well as their social and emotional growth.

Recognizing this impact, Families Matter takes a unique approach: we view the relationship between the infant and their caregivers as our “client,” rather than supporting individuals in isolation. This wrap-around model allows us to address the needs of the entire family unit in a more holistic and effective way.

This philosophy has shaped the development of our peer programs, which support a diverse range of families—including new mothers, fathers, rural communities, and marginalized groups such as African, Caribbean, and Black parents. In this presentation, we’ll highlight how these peer-led initiatives have successfully guided families through their parenting journeys, fostering connection, confidence, and community.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

Eating Disorders Nova Scotia has been training peer supporters for over 20 years. Sharing your story can be an incredible powerful tool, especially when done in a way that builds rapport and hope. One of the highlights of our training is the Sharing Your Story session. In this workshop, we’ve curated the best parts of this training into a 90-minute session focusing on why sharing your story matters in peer support, sharing with purpose, and understanding context. With this, we’ll explore why reflecting on your own story is important, with some prompts to encourage reflection, and explore how to disclose with intention. We’ll wrap up our session with an activity for participants to use what they’ve learned to practice sharing their story in pairs or small groups, and to reflect on that experience.

The Forge is a lived-experience-led initiative transforming how mental health and substance use supports are delivered within Canada’s trades and industry sectors. Built by and for tradespeople, The Forge centers on peer support as a practical, accessible, culturally grounded model of care. This session will explore how the apprenticeship model—rooted in connection, skill-sharing, and solidarity—naturally aligns with the principles of peer support. Drawing from the program’s pilot phase, we will share lessons learned, system impacts, and the importance of community-based recovery spaces in reducing stigma and promoting connection. Attendees will gain insight into how lived experience within industry settings can be leveraged to enhance engagement, trust, and long-term recovery outcomes among workers who have historically been underserved by traditional systems of care.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

This presentation explores a new model of Indigenous peer support developed by and for Indigenous people with lived experience in addiction, homelessness, mental health, and systemic barriers. Grounded in the Seven Sacred Teachings and the Medicine Wheel, the model blends Indigenous ways of knowing with current peer support approaches such as motivational interviewing and trauma-informed care. It centers culture, connection, and lived experience as the foundation of healing and emphasizes what it truly means to walk alongside our Indigenous relations. This approach redefines support through cultural reconnection and advocacy that confront racism and systemic barriers within health and social services. The session asserts that Indigenous led peer support is not a supplement to existing systems but a necessary step in reclaiming healing, restoring balance, and creating justice within community and institutional spaces.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

When an organization is grounded in meaningful youth engagement practices found in the provincial quality standards for youth engagement, peer support can flourish. This presentation will describe how to use the quality standards to support and maintain peer support. It will also highlight the Knowledge Institute for Child and Youth Mental Health’s approach to meaningful engagement and its peer support model from the perspective of young people, including a youth advisor and advisory council member.

The Collaborative Learning College (CLC), at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), is a Recovery College (RC) in Toronto offering low-barrier, recovery-oriented education co-produced by and for peers/people with lived and living experience (PWLLE) of mental health challenges and/or substance use. Co-production brings together PWLLE and people with professional and/or academic expertise to collaborate equitably in the design and delivery of a program or initiative.

Recognizing that program evaluations often overlook the perspectives of PWLLE, the CLC formed an Evaluation Subcommittee composed of PWLLE and staff to co-design and direct the program’s evaluation plan. This workshop will highlight the value of centering PWLLE in defining and measuring success and share insights from a Principles-Focused Evaluation (P-FE) of our co-production process. Participants will be invited to reflect on their own evaluation approaches and explore tangible ways to embed lived experience voices in evaluation within their contexts.

Crisis response interventions are most effective when they are timely, culturally responsive, and rooted in trust. Traditional models often rely on professional responders who may lack lived experience or community ties. Drawing on interviews with frontline crisis workers about their experiences working on non-policing, alternative crisis response teams, this session will highlight the importance of lived experience and peer connection in crisis response work, both in the crisis intervention itself and the importance of peer mentorship within crisis response teams. By centering lived experience, relational trust, and cultural responsiveness, peer support transforms crisis interventions from a transactional service into a relational, healing process. Investing in peer support not as a separate, specialized role, but as a value embedded in crisis response work, is both a compassionate and strategic move toward more equitable and effective crisis care.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

Background: People seeking care for substance use often face barriers in navigating services. The Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) model throughout Ontario focuses on pathways between care settings. While evidence for peer support has been published, many questions remain about incorporating peer support into a RAAM model and into hospital-based outpatient services.

Methods: The goal of the Peer Support Program in the Substance Use Service (SUS)/ RAAM at Women’s College Hospital (WCH) is to enhance peer (service user) engagement in care and address related challenges/barriers. The evaluation led by Women’s College Hospital is partnered with Krasman Centre (a peer support-based Consumer/Survivor Initiative), and peers (People with Lived Experience), through all stages. This evaluation used quantitative and qualitative methods to examine four aspects of experience with the Peer Supporter Program (PSP): administrative clinical, data on PSP use, interviews with service users regarding their experiences with the PSP, and surveys of clinicians and medical learners regarding their perceptions of the PSP and the role of peer support in an addiction medicine care program.

Results: We will describe the approach and rationale for the evaluation design, and share both quantitative and qualitative data from the evaluation. Service users described the PSP as increasing feelings of connection, validation, trust and support. Clinicians and learners identified benefits to clients and to the team associated with the PSP. More clarity around processes and consistency was identified as an opportunity to improve the PSP.

Conclusions: Peer supporters contribute to improved delivery of care to individuals living with substance use. Their inclusion in program development and evaluation helps to ensure that the needs and perspectives of people who use services are truly centered in these activities. Collaboration between clinical services and Consumer/Survivor Initiatives/Peer-based organizations is critical in implementing effective Peer Support programs in clinical settings.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) affects an estimated 4% of Canadians, yet remains widely misunderstood—even within peer support spaces. Many people with FASD are misdiagnosed or unsupported in ways that overlook their neurological differences.

In this interactive workshop, peer mentor and facilitator Shannon Butt (diagnosed with FASD at age 32) invites participants to explore how FASD can show up in peer settings and how peers can respond with compassion and understanding. Through storytelling, guided meditation, and gentle somatic exercises, participants will learn practical tools to support emotional regulation—for themselves and others.

This session weaves together lived experience, mindfulness, and trauma-informed peer support to nurture awareness, empathy, and connection.

This presentation shares findings from a Peer Support Program Feasibility Study commissioned by the Government of Nunavut, exploring a territory-wide, culturally grounded approach to mental health and substance use challenges in northern communities.  

Shaped by the realities of the North, including geographic isolation, limited access to services, and the lasting impacts of colonization, the study highlights the essential role of peer support in strengthening community-based, relationship-centered care.  

Engagement with community members, Elders, and service providers across Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and Coral Harbour revealed a strong foundation of informal peer support, alongside a need for structured, sustainable training. A key focus is ensuring peer support training is culturally appropriate, grounded in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, language, and local ways of helping, rather just than adapting southern models.  

This presentation will share key learnings, challenges, and considerations for developing culturally relevant peer support approaches in northern, rural, and remote contexts, with a focus on respect, collaboration, and ongoing learning. 

This workshop highlights the transformative role of peer support in substance use health by centering the voices of people with lived/living experience. Participants will explore how peer-led approaches grounded in harm reduction, dignity and autonomy can reduce stigma, strengthen recovery pathways, and build inclusive communities. Through interactive activities and case examples from the hospital and community, participants will gain practical skills in supporting people who use substances with compassion and respect. The session will cover strategies for integrating peer support into care planning, enhancing communication between providers and patients, and fostering collaboration that complements existing clinical and community services. Participants will leave with actionable tools for embedding peer support within their workplace and a deeper understanding of how peer roles can humanize systems of care and improve patient experiences.

Supporting those who lead our schools is essential to sustaining healthy learning communities. This session will share the Ontario Principals’ Council’s experience in developing and piloting a new peer support program for principals and vice-principals. Beginning with two pilot school boards, the program was designed to create safe, confidential spaces where leaders can connect with trained peers who understand the challenges of educational leadership. While not without its learning curves, the process has emphasized listening, adapting, and fostering inclusion so that all participants feel supported and represented. The session will also highlight a complementary program for principals and vice-principals assigned to home, ensuring access to meaningful support for everyone. Participants will hear about early insights, successes, and next steps as the program evolves and scales across Ontario. Join us to explore how thoughtful peer connection strengthens leader well-being, resilience, and collective care.

In this presentation, we will use a traditional PowerPoint presentation as well as small group case studies and a discussion/question period to share what we have learned through the development and management of Surrey Place’s Caregiver Peer Mentorship Program. We will discuss the principles of co-design, steps taken before the program launch, research elements of the program, and mentor and mentee recruitment, selection, and matching. We will inform participants of the successes and challenges we have had along the way, and share our contact information with participants so that we can serve as a knowledge base for those who want to launch or discuss their own caregiver peer mentorship initiatives. Every participant will also leave with a copy of our logic model outlining the inputs, outputs, and desired outcomes of our Caregiver Peer Mentorship Program.

Our session will provide attendees the opportunity to learn about the Oskâpêwis (cultural helper) initiative and explore how this approach to peer support could inform culturally grounded initiatives in home communities.

The Oskâpêwis are Indigenous individuals who use their lived experience (eg. of addictions, mental health, institutionalization, and/or justice involvement) to walk alongside relations on similar paths. Their work is situated within the Soksipaitapiisin restorative justice program, and is part of a larger study to develop and evaluate culturally grounded healing practices to support Indigenous people.

Oskâpêwis walk alongside participants who are actively using or experiencing relapse, helping them set recovery goals and connect with supports that reflect their needs and culture. Grounded in traditional teachings and community connection, the approach emphasizes encouragement and cultural guidance to facilitate bridging with clinical supports.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

Social and health solutions that centre community voices and integrate evidence with lived experience, practice, and expertise are more effective in addressing the unique needs and enhancing equity for the populations they serve. Such approaches advance excellence in research, equity, and action, while improving the implementation, evaluation, and sustainability of social and health programs, especially when engaging communities from diverse ethnocultural, socioeconomic, and identity backgrounds.

In this context, we will share our community peer research and interdisciplinary approach, used to co-identify, co-ideate, co-prioritize, and co-design mental well-being program prototypes for immigrant and refugee families in Peel Region, Ontario, Canada. Drawing on experiential learning, we will share practical tips for conducting community-centred participatory research. We will demonstrate how engaging community peer research strategies can strengthen the translation of research into real-world impact, leading to more sustainable and equitable outcomes than traditional, non-community-based approaches.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

This session will share the development and implementation of a peer support program designed specifically for survivors of human trafficking—an area often overlooked in peer support practice. While survivor-leadership is widely encouraged, many survivors have been asked to provide peer support without adequate training, supervision, or safeguards, placing them at risk of burnout and re-traumatization. Our program addresses this gap with a structured, ethical, and sustainable model that protects both peers and peer supporters.

Through our journey of survivor-informed research, co-design, program launch, and evaluation, participants will gain insights into challenges faced, lessons learned, and strategies developed to strengthen trauma-exposed workplaces. The session will offer frameworks and practical approaches adaptable across sectors, including healthcare, first responders, and community-based organizations. By highlighting sustainability, safety, and survivor empowerment, this workshop will equip participants with concrete tools to advance peer support practices that are ethical, resilient, and rooted in lived experience.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

In June 2024, thirty peer and allied leaders from across twelve countries co-created a shared vision for how lived experience can lead transformation in mental health, Disability and substance use systems, communities, and movements.

The result of this collaboration is our new paper: Shared Power, Shared Recovery: The Promise of Lived-Experience-Peer Leadership. It brings together international perspectives, guiding principles, and practical examples of how lived experience and peer leadership shows up in communities, in strategy and policy, in service design and delivery, and in research and evaluation. Most importantly, it captures the collective voice of peers working across contexts and cultures, and sets out what is needed for peer leadership to thrive.

This interactive session explores how peer-led support programs can transform recovery for women living with heart disease. Blending program design with lived experience, participants will engage in reflective activities and discussion to better understand the emotional, social, and practical gaps in post-cardiac care. Through the lens of the Women@Heart program, attendees will gain insight into how peer leadership, shared experience, and structured support can improve patient activation, reduce isolation, and foster meaningful recovery. Participants will leave with practical ideas to integrate more patient-centred, relationship-based approaches into their own work.

Over the past several decades, critical incident stress responses have been both widely adopted and critically examined. While multiple models have emerged over time, they are often grouped under the same umbrella, despite important differences in intent, delivery, and impact.

This session invites first responder organizations to reflect on how peer support-based critical incident responses can be designed to complement clinical care, respect clear boundaries, and leverage the unique strengths peers bring to the space. Particular attention is given to the roles of relatability, proximity, and familiarity, and how these factors contribute to trust, safety, and effective support following critical events.

Rather than revisiting debates of the past, this discussion focuses on key considerations for building modern, peer-informed approaches to critical incident support that align with current evidence, organizational realities, and the needs of today’s workforce.

This session will share what taking a harm reduction-based approach to peer support in an ED means, and what doing this work successfully can look like. Presenters will provide a brief overview of concepts (peer support values, harm reduction principles, drug use criminalization, and common barriers to optimal substance use health care in an ED).

Participants will be placed into groups and assigned roles to play in scenarios. Groups will then debrief the scenario, and return to the larger group to discuss lessons learned/insights.

Facilitators will aim to have participants play a role outside their usual work and gain insight into the experience both of being a person who uses substances getting service in an ED, as well as the experience of the peer supporter.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

This presentation will explore the importance of personal responsibility when seeking recovery in a clinical setting; specifically, for those who have experienced the criminal justice system and were found to be Not Criminally Responsible or Not Fit To Stand Trial and are residing in a forensic psychiatric hospital. The role of Peer Support in a forensic program is essential for successful transfer through the forensic program and eventual reintegration of society. Peer Support has long been rooted in the concept of Personal Recovery. The idea that all people can improve and shape their lives for the better. Peer Support elevates the profile of the individual’s strengths, resilience, and desire to pursue recovery.

Personal Responsibility is a very mindful, present notion. It is not focused on the past; it is not a list of mistakes and flaws. Rather, it asks individuals to examine their lives for something they can change, control or influence.

Medical Assistance in Dying has been legally available in Canada since 2016. Over 2024-2026, our team of peer support leaders, practitioners, researchers, and an ethicist came together to explore: (i) how to support peer support workers and peers engaged in these conversations; (ii) the unique contribution of peer support to national MAiD policy development and discourse; (iii) tensions and unresolved questions in the peer support community; and (iv) strategies and strains in advancing the role of peer support within interdisciplinary healthcare environments.

In this 3-part workshop we will present on learnings and work to date, facilitate generative discussion on unresolved tensions, and develop consensus on a guidance document for dissemination after the conference.

NOTE: This session has been approved to count toward formalized peer support experience hours for Peer Support Canada’s National Peer Supporter Certification Program.

Peer support is grounded in intentional relationships, lived experience, and shared values. While many programs are built with care and intention, leadership plays a critical role in sustaining this work over time by translating values into intentional, supportive structures that protect boundaries, support growth, and ensure consistent, high-quality practice. This session focuses on how leaders actively work through policy, documentation, role clarity, and supervisory conversations without undermining the relational core of peer support.