Peer Support Groups
Kiva Centers offers In Person, Online, and Phone Support
below is a listing of the groups offered – please click on the Group names for more information
Apoyo Entre Pares
Join our peer support phone call group for Spanish speakers! We’re here to provide a safe and welcoming space for individuals who need support, understanding, and connection. Whether you’re facing life’s challenges or simply seeking a friendly conversation, our group is open to everyone. Our compassionate and bilingual facilitators are here to listen, share, and provide a sense of community.
¡Únete a nuestro grupo de apoyo por teléfono para hispanohablantes! Estamos aquí para ofrecer un espacio seguro y acogedor a las personas que necesitan apoyo, comprensión y conexión. Ya sea que estés enfrentando desafíos en la vida o simplemente buscas una conversación amigable, nuestro grupo está abierto a todos. Nuestros facilitadores compasivos y bilingües están aquí para escuchar, compartir y brindar un sentido de comunidad.
Black/Brown Indigenous Person of Color (BIPOC) Support
This group is centered around the unique needs of BIPOC communities (Black Indigenous People of Color). *This is a closed affinity group for BIPOC people only.
Boundaries and Balance
In this group we discuss our relationship with boundaries including what they are and what it looks like to set sustainable ones for ourselves. In this space, we support each other as we learn more about what boundaries mean to us and why they are important.
Breaking Cycles
In this group we examine the dynamics of our lived experiences and the roles we play within them. We reclaim our power of choice, and rediscover ourselves as the major change agents in our own lives.
Chakras
Learn about the chakras in the human body and how to use them to benifit your own wellness. This group happens the 3rd Wednesday of each month. For information, email j.lafortune@kivacenters.org
Chronic Illness Peer Support
We all realize how illness can interfere with our mental wellness. In this group we share, validate, and support each other through our journeys with chronic illness.
Coffee and Conversation
This is a support group to just sit and discuss anything you may need support with now. A place to feel safe and be supported.
Community Gathering
The perfect time to come together as a community to discuss and make decisions as a community in the direction we take and groups we create.
Coping Skills Peer Support
In this group we discuss and support each other in healthy coping skills for uncomfortable emotions, such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and activities for passing time.
Coping with Anger
This group is to support those with experiences in anger; either having anger issues or being victimized by it. Here you can come together with peers whom you can share with and be supported by.
Creative Artwork
A time to relax and bring out your artistic side. Learn different styles from cartooning to landscape. Enjoy conversation while supporting each other.
Dual Recovery Peer Support
This is a group for people who are living with both mental health and addiction experiences, including struggling with smoking, substance use, sex, or other experiences that hold us back from living the life we want for ourselves. We honor the many different paths towards living a meaningful life and don’t preach any one way of healing or living. This is a group where we value difference, truth, and self-determination and recognize that our challenges are often connected. In this space we can share without the far of shame or judgement, and receive mutual support with compassion, curiosity, and respect.
Finding Freedom
This is a space to process and discuss our various pathways and journeys toward greater freedom. Sometimes we feel trapped in a legacy of personal trauma and shame, or in cycles of self-rejection. Or we can feel stuck and frustrated in unhealthy relationships, or in wider social contexts like workplaces, welfare, and unemployment. And there is also the trauma of being deprived of basic rights and freedoms in institutional environments. In Finding Freedom, we explore what freedom can mean to us despite these obstacles.
Healthy Relationships and Boundaries
This group is for those who want to hear and share experiences about working towards healthy relationships and boundaries.
Home in Our Bodies
This group talks about our bodies through a neutral lens. We talk about our own individual struggles with eating disorders of all kinds, diet culture, fat liberation, and trauma around this. All bodies of any size or shape are welcome.
Living with Alternate Realities
This group is an open space for those who identify with hearing voices, alternate realities, multiple person(s)/beings in one body, out of body experiences, paranoia, invasive/intrusive thoughts and actions, memory issues, and more. Sometimes these experiences can be intense and distressing, sometimes helpful and powerful. For some of us, they are all of these things. This group is a safe space for sharing a variety of perspectives on these experiences: we don’t dictate or invalidate anyone’s experience with the topic, but stay curious, open, and compassionate. If you are unsure if you fit this topic, please feel free to contact Kiva Centers for more clarification.
Living with Loss
This group is for those aged 18+ who are dealing with loss. It provides an opportunity to share and listen to experiences about loss.
- There is not just one way to cope with loss
- People can have different reactions to loss
- Grief comes in all shapes and forms, and we can talk about all types of loss such as death, loss of a friend or loved one, illnesses, and other situations.
- Grief has no time limit and is a natural response to losing someone or something significant.
Together we can support one another with help and hope in the grieving process.
Living with Suicide
This is a safe space where people with similar experiences can discuss all the alternatives we have surrounding the topic of suicide. We are non-judgmental, non-clinical, and we are not mandated reporters. You are safe here to speak freely in an open and caring atmosphere and be supported in your experiences.
Navigating Trauma in a Brave Space
Trauma looks different for everyone, but we all know we can’t ignore it. Join us in this journey of navigating our trauma.
Open Topic
Our open topic groups are for individuals to join and get support for whatever is needed in the moment. You never know what may come up. It is a place to share and learn from the knowledge gained from each other’s experiences and to build connections and support together. Bring every topic that is important to you; it is welcomed in the group!
Peers Connecting
This group is a chance to see where we as peers can find ways to connect and support each other on our journey to health and wellness.
Poetry Workshop
This is a combination of a peer-support and an informational writing group. Participants and the facilitator will write poetry, talk about poetry, build writing confidence, express themselves through writing and share tips and suggestions for group participants.
Group will meet via Zoom on the last Friday of each month from 2pm-4pm EST.
Power of Gratitude
This group focuses on how finding a grateful outlook can strengthen wellness and discusses different ways to find gratitude in your everyday life. In this group we also talk about any barriers that can impact our connection to gratitude and how it can be used as a tool to support our healing.
Power of Positivity
This group looks towards changing your perspective and looking at situations in a positive light. We support each other with working through things that could look negative but turned into a positive.
Sharing Safety Pride Group
An LGBTQ+ specific group, where we can receive and give peer support to other members of our community, in a space dedicated to us.
Resilience Through Times of Uncertainty
This is a safe place to talk about how building resilience is an ongoing learning process. It is a place to talk about emotions, healing from trauma, going through difficult and good times. It is about learning and getting support for our growth in the present and for the future.
Salud Mental Y Dinamicas Familiares
Unete a nuestro grupo de apoya disendado para la comunidad hispanohablante, donde exploraremos como las dinamicas familliares impactan la salud mental. Este is un espacio sefuro y confidencial para compartir experiencias, reflexionar sobre los desafios unicos que enfrentamos y encontrar apoyo entre pares. Juntos, aprenderemos a fortalecer nuestras relaciones familiares y a desarrollar estrategias de afrontamiento saludables.
Join our support group designed for the Spanish-speaking community, where we will explore how family dynamics impact mental health. This is a safe and confidential space to share experiences, reflect on the unique challenges we face and find peer support. Together, we will learn how to strengthen our family relationships and develop healthy coping strategies.
Spirituality and Wellness
This is a group to explore how your Spirituality supports your Wellness and finding balance.
Talking Circle
Talking Circles is a safe space where peers gather to discuss life and everyday challenges. We have created a safe space that allows people to connect with others in a non judgemental and inviting way. Come and join us Tuesdays at noon and see for yourself.
TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Friday)
This group is intended to be more lighthearted and fun than some of our groups can be. Join us to talk about good things happening, hear about the positive things others are experiencing, share news and excitement as well as just come together to lift our spirits before the weekend.
Under the Umbrella
This group is an affinity group specific to the Transgender, Non-binary and Gender Non-Conforming communities. It is a space to share our experiences involving gender and life in general in a space dedicated to our needs.