PEER SUPPORT SERVICES

Vinfen’s peer support services give people with mental health conditions the opportunity to receive guidance and support from people who have been there.

People with similar lived experiences listen, give hope, and offer guidance about recovery in a way that is different from other paid professionals. They can give and receive mutual, practical advice and suggestions for strategies that professionals may not know about. Through coaching, mentoring, and advocacy, peers let others know that they are not alone.

WE PROVIDE PEER SUPPORT SERVICES THAT ARE INTEGRATED WITH OTHER SUPPORT SERVICES IN MOST OF OUR PROGRAMS, INCLUDING:

Adult Community Clinical Services (ACCS) are a comprehensive, clinically focused service that helps people living with long-term mental health and substance use challenges recover. People with lived experience of mental health conditions work as part of the ACCS teams and are trained to provide mutual support to help others in recovery. Peer specialists promote engagement, hope, and full integration and functioning in the community, helping people to explore their options and gain confidence, skills, and resources needed to successfully achieve their goals.

Vinfen’s Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT) services provide treatment, rehabilitation, and support services to enable the people we serve to reduce or prevent psychiatric relapse, improve abilities in adult life roles, and engage in a personal process of recovery. Recovery coordinators working in PACT are people with lived experience of mental health conditions and specialize in providing mutual support to help others.

Our Recovery Connection Centers (RCCs) and Recovery Learning Centers (RLCs) are run entirely for and by people with lived experience of mental health conditions and/or substance use challenges. Our services utilize peer support, advocacy, referral, education, career coaching, job readiness, financial literacy, wellness, and social activities in a sensitive and person-centered manner. We support four peer-led RCCs/RLCs located in Cambridge, Somerville, Fall River, Hyannis, and Quincy.

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