Healing Through Community
A safe space to talk, learn, and support each other.
A free drop-in recovery center for those working through mental illness, trauma, and addiction. No appointments needed.
Trauma-Informed Care
Every interaction begins with safety, trust, and respect for each person’s lived experience.
Peer-Led Support
Our team includes people with lived experience of recovery who walk alongside those we serve.
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We connect individuals and families to the resources, services, and people that keep recovery going.
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PEER Voices Podcast
Recovery stories and conversations, by peers for peers.
You Don’t Look Like a Peer: Challenging Peer Supporter Stereotypes
What is a peer supposed to look like? For Juliet Dorris-Williams and Gabe Howard, the answer is simple: there is no single way a person with lived experience of mental health, addiction, or trauma is supposed to look, act, or live. Yet both have repeatedly encountered people who question whether they are “really” peers because of their education level, appearance, or professional role. In this episode of PEERVoices, Juliet and Gabe explore the assumptions and stereotypes surrounding peer support, including the surprising ways those assumptions can come from within the peer community itself. Juliet shares an early experience at The P.E.E.R. Center when someone questioned where the peers were, despite the organization being made up of people with personal lived experience. Gabe shares a particularly memorable encounter with a doctor who assumed that because he lives with bipolar disorder, he must be receiving disability benefits. The conversation also explores why people can be much more than what they look like, how assumptions can hide someone's life experience, and why peer supporters themselves have a responsibility to keep learning. Listen Now!
October 28, 2026
ListenEp. 33Peer Support Can Change Lives: Gary Krafthefer’s Recovery Story
What does it take to turn your own lived experience into a career helping other people?On this episode of PEERVoices, Gabe Howard and Juliet Dorris-Williams talk with Gary Krafthefer, a longtime member of The P.E.E.R. Center team, about recovery, peer support, certification, and the barriers that can make entering the peer-support workforce feel overwhelming.Gary shares his personal recovery story, including childhood struggles, a nervous breakdown following his parents’ divorce, multiple diagnoses, self-medication, and the moment that changed his direction: learning he was going to become a father. That realization pushed him to take a hard look at his life and decide he needed to change.Today, Gary uses that lived experience to help other peers. Through PeerTAC, he answers questions from people across Ohio who are trying to become certified peer recovery supporters, maintain their credentials, earn continuing education, or simply figure out what they are supposed to do next.Listeners Will Learn:What PeerTAC does for Ohio’s certified peer recovery support workforce.Why peer supporters don't fit a single stereotype or professional profile.How sharing your story can help other people feel less alone.Why asking for help can be an important part of moving forward.Whether you're already a certified peer recovery supporter, considering certification, or simply wondering what peer support can look like, this episode offers practical information, honest recovery insight, and plenty of encouragement. Listen Now!
October 21, 2026
ListenEp. 32Ethics and Boundaries in Peer Support
Ethics and boundaries are essential to peer support—but knowing where the line is isn't always easy. In this episode, hosts Juliet Dorris-Williams and Gabe Howard explore the complicated gray areas peer supporters face on the job and why simply knowing the difference between right and wrong isn't enough. Joining them to round out the discussion is Gary Krafthefer, who works with PeerTAC and regularly fields questions about ethics and boundaries. Gary explains some of the most common challenges peer supporters may face, including dual relationships, self-disclosure, oversharing, scope of practice, workplace boundaries, and working while experiencing a personal crisis. Their conversation also tackles an important misconception: making an ethical or boundary mistake doesn't automatically make someone an unethical or immoral person. The episode also emphasizes the importance of maintaining your own recovery. Being certified and employed doesn't mean the work of recovery stops—and peer supporters need to recognize when personal circumstances may affect their ability to support someone else. Listeners Will Learn: Why staying within your scope of practice matters How to handle an ethical gray area Why asking for help is a strength, not a failure Ethics aren't always black and white. Sometimes the most ethical thing you can do is admit you don't know and ask for help.
September 30, 2026
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P.E.E.R. Support
Promote personal empowerment through education and P.E.E.R. support, helping our peers take control of their own recovery.
Daily Activities
The P.E.E.R. Center hosts a wide variety of one-on-one peer support, group peer support, recreational activities, computer lab, a media center & more.
Recovery Tools
We offer many peer-led support groups each week. These include our mental health, alcohol & other drug & trauma informed support groups & more.
The P.E.E.R. Center is proud to be recognized as an Ohio Recovery Friendly Workplace. Learn more about this program and how you can benefit.
How We Help
Trauma Support
Individual and group therapy for trauma survivors.
Peer Support Groups
Connect with others on similar healing journeys.
Education & Training
Workshops and trainings on trauma-informed care.
Community Outreach
Programs that meet the community where they are.
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Latest from the Blog
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The Meal Doesn’t Have to Wait for Belonging
By Juliet Dorris-Williams
The P.E.E.R. Center RECEIVES $220,000.00 IN FUNDING To Support The P.E.E.R. Center Expansion Program!
The P.E.E.R. Center has received $220,000.00 in grant funding to support its efforts in fighting addiction by delivering needed recovery support services, Juliet C. Dorris-Williams, Executive Director, announced today. “
By Gary Krafthefer
5 Awesome Recovery Toolbox Items
What supportive items are in your recovery toolbox? As we grow in our recovery, we add specific tools (skills) to our boxes. Below is a list of items geared to have supportive purposes to add to your toolbox.
By Gary Krafthefer
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