Global Peer Support Day, October 15th

Oct 14, 2026

October 15 is Global Peer Support Day, a time to recognize and celebrate the invaluable contributions of peer support workers.

Peer support workers bring their own unique experiences, perspectives and skills to their role. Drawing on their lived experience with mental health and/or substance use challenges as well as their professional and educational experience, they are trained to help individuals navigate the mental health system and access the support they need. But their impact goes far beyond that.

Peer support workers are living proof that recovery is possible. Through shared understanding, compassion and connection, they inspire hope and help people feel less alone in their journey.

Whether they are sharing coping strategies, offering encouragement, or helping someone navigate services, the relationship between an individual and their peer supporter is built on trust, empathy and mutual respect. It is a relationship that fosters healing, empowerment and hope.

At CMHA Waterloo Wellington, we are proud to have 24 peer staff roles and 15 volunteers contributing through our Self Help & Peer Support program. For many individuals, volunteering serves as an important stepping stone in their healing journey and a pathway back to employment.

Our Self Help & Peer Support sites focus on recovery and skill building, helping people develop the tools and confidence needed to create meaningful change in their lives. Thirty-five individuals access virtual and in-person groups as well as one-to-one peer support each day. The program offers a variety of services and drop-in peer-led groups with no wait lists or registration required. View the current program calendars at Self Help & Peer Support – CMHA Waterloo Wellington.

Twenty-four peer workers are embedded in a wide range of CMHA Waterloo Wellington services, team-based care programs such as First Episode Psychosis and the Flexible Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) Team, as well as initiatives focused on art, entrepreneurship and community outreach. The Skills for Safer Living program brings together peer support and clinical expertise to support individuals with lived experience of suicide attempts or persistent suicide ideation; 250 people alone were supported last year. The Peer Warmline, a service of Here 24/7, provides emotional and resource telephone support to isolated individuals in our community, helping them to know they are not alone.

Through these diverse roles, peer workers bring hope, connection and lived expertise to individuals, navigating their mental health and wellness journeys.

CMHA Waterloo Wellington provides peer support training to CMHA branches and mental health and addiction organizations across Ontario, through the Centre for Excellence in Peer Support. Delivered by experienced peer workers, the training is rooted in the Ontario context of peer support and focuses on practical skills such as using lived experience intentionally, maintaining professional relationships, trauma-informed practice and staying grounded in core peer support values like hope, recovery, self-determination and inclusion.

At CMHA Waterloo Wellington, we value the unique insight and expertise that peer workers bring to mental health and substance use care. Through shared lived and living experience, peer workers support individuals in achieving their wellness goals while helping us deliver accessible, culturally responsive and innovative services that strengthen our community.