Peer support: A reminder of our own Humanity
- Julie Erickson
- Jun 7
- 3 min read
By HIVE Member: Julie Erickson, Helios Consultant
As many people these days can likely relate, I’ve had my fair share of traumatic
experiences and challenging times in the almost four decades I’ve been around.
Treatment has helped me to reflect and process my feelings surrounding those
experiences and move forward, but my humanity, and ability to see myself as a whole
and complex individual, has been affirmed time and time again through peer support.
Peer support is where individuals with shared lived experience offer emotional, social,
and practical support to one another. My personal experience with peer support has
been primarily in group settings where support is reciprocal, empowering, and grounded
in a sense of community and belonging.
Why is it so difficult at times to acknowledge our own inherent dignity, emotions, needs, and worth?
It sounds so simple on paper but peer support can offer a profound reminder that we
are not alone. That the human experience is not a neat and tidy one. That we can’t
“hack” our psychology for results. And that there is no shortcut (unfortunately) to
healing, but finding a community of shared experience and understanding can create
the safety necessary to gain perspective and motivation to work toward healing oneself.
In a group of my peers, I easily recognize the humanity of those around me, and
through that deep sense of seeing others’ humanity in shared circumstances, I can
acknowledge my own as well.
Once I realized the power of peer support, I began to seek it out during any challenging
periods of life, and have had support groups (formal and informal) for PTSD, grief,
workplace burnout, and any time life felt like too much to carry without community. I was
continuously shocked at how my emotional rollercoaster would slowly evolve into more
of an emotional drive down a country road when I incorporated regular peer support into
my routine.
Through my experiences with various kinds of peer support, I realized that it doesn’t just
serve us in the hardest moments of life, but it can also provide the necessary boost to
create progress toward our life goals as well. Since realizing this, I’ve joined peer
support groups for job seekers, former federal employees, and even one for people
whose dogs have separation anxiety, all of which have helped me feel less alone and
move toward my personal and professional goals.
The Helios Hive, in addition to being a group of professionals with immense experience in mental health and substance use recovery, also provide the kind of peer support that creates progress toward my goals, both personal and professional.
We are peers who share a vision for a healthcare system that prioritizes the dignity and perspective of those seeking support, believes recovery is a possibility for all, and that recovery happens in community. We are building relationships to further our mission at the speed of human, because by embracing our own humanity and that of others, we can achieve so much more.
Is the chaos of the current times getting you down? Check out some peer support in the
areas where you feel most alone or stuck. You are not alone!
Here are a few peer support options that have made a profound difference for me:
Is there anything more powerful than healing in community? I’m not sure, but if there is,
I have yet to experience it.
Julie Erickson, Helios Consultant
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