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The Peer Review Quarterly

Lived experience, shared support, stronger community

The Peer Review Quarterly

Peer support begins with the expertise of lived experience, not a clinical chart. This guide explains how mutual aid and peer-led groups work, and how to build and sustain them in the Niagara region.

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Two adults sitting on folding chairs facing each other in a bright community room, one listening attentively with a notepad on her knee

PS-001Peer Support Basics

What Peer Support Actually Means

Peer support is mutual help among people with shared experiences. It is not therapy. Here is what it looks like and how to know if it fits.

Two adults in a bright community room, one listening attentively. Illustrative image, generated with AI.

Reading plan

A middle shelf: three guides to read after the newest one.

A person arranging index cards on a corkboard in a small office, shelves of leaflets blurred behind them

PS-003Peer Support Basics

Why Lived Experience Counts as Expertise

Lived experience brings practical knowledge, empathy and hope that professional training alone cannot replicate, making it a vital form of expertise in mental health support.

For a person arranging index cards on a corkboard in a small office

Volunteers sorting boxes of groceries on long tables in a church basement, handwritten labels on the boxes

NM-004Niagara Mutual Aid

What Mutual Aid Is and Is Not

Mutual aid is solidarity, not charity. Learn what sets it apart from service delivery, with a practical comparison and decision checklist.

For volunteers sorting boxes of groceries on long tables in a church basement

Card drawer

Short entries for quick orientation.

Close view of two hands resting on a wooden table beside a mug and a folded tissue, faces out of frame

PS-005Peer Support Basics

The Practice of Non Clinical Listening

Non clinical listening is a core peer support skill. Learn how to listen without diagnosing, fixing, or giving advice, while staying boundaried and safe.

For close view of two hands resting on a wooden table beside a mug and a folded tissue

People seated in a park shelter handing around a shared bowl of fruit, trees and a river visible beyond

NM-007Niagara Mutual Aid

Mutual Aid and Community Mental Health

Mutual aid builds community mental health through peer support, shared resources, and social ties. Learn how it works and how to start.

For people seated in a park shelter handing around a shared bowl of fruit

A folded regional map spread on a kitchen table with a pen, notebook and reading glasses resting on it

NM-008Niagara Mutual Aid

Mapping Niagara Community Initiatives

How to find mental health and mutual aid resources across Niagara Region, using official directories, local knowledge and steady verification habits.

For a folded regional map spread on a kitchen table with a pen

Peer Support Basics

PS What peer support is, how it differs from clinical care, and what good practice looks like.

Two adults sitting on folding chairs facing each other in a bright community room, one listening attentively with a notepad on her knee

PS-001Peer Support Basics

What Peer Support Actually Means

Peer support is mutual help among people with shared experiences. It is not therapy. Here is what it looks like and how to know if it fits.

For two adults sitting on folding chairs facing each other in a bright community room

A person arranging index cards on a corkboard in a small office, shelves of leaflets blurred behind them

PS-003Peer Support Basics

Why Lived Experience Counts as Expertise

Lived experience brings practical knowledge, empathy and hope that professional training alone cannot replicate, making it a vital form of expertise in mental health support.

For a person arranging index cards on a corkboard in a small office

All entries

Niagara Mutual Aid

NM How mutual aid and community mental health efforts take shape across the Niagara region.

Volunteers sorting boxes of groceries on long tables in a church basement, handwritten labels on the boxes

NM-004Niagara Mutual Aid

What Mutual Aid Is and Is Not

Mutual aid is solidarity, not charity. Learn what sets it apart from service delivery, with a practical comparison and decision checklist.

For volunteers sorting boxes of groceries on long tables in a church basement

People seated in a park shelter handing around a shared bowl of fruit, trees and a river visible beyond

NM-007Niagara Mutual Aid

Mutual Aid and Community Mental Health

Mutual aid builds community mental health through peer support, shared resources, and social ties. Learn how it works and how to start.

For people seated in a park shelter handing around a shared bowl of fruit

A folded regional map spread on a kitchen table with a pen, notebook and reading glasses resting on it

NM-008Niagara Mutual Aid

Mapping Niagara Community Initiatives

How to find mental health and mutual aid resources across Niagara Region, using official directories, local knowledge and steady verification habits.

For a folded regional map spread on a kitchen table with a pen

All entries

Building Groups

BG Practical guidance for starting, running and sustaining a peer support group.

A rota sheet pinned to a corkboard beside a wall calendar and a potted plant, hands adjusting a pen

BG-013Building Groups

Sustaining a Group Over Time

Peer groups fade from fatigue, not failure. A practical look at rota sharing, rotating facilitation and honest endings.

For a rota sheet pinned to a corkboard beside a wall calendar and a potted plant

All entries

Elsewhere on the shelf

Entries kept by other desks, each read before it was shelved here.