Free peer support. for groups "targeted by Trump"

The National Institute for Peer Support, a small non-profit, provides free peer support for people “targeted by Trump.” You can contact us at www.NIPSPeerSupport.org.

People attacked by Trump, Musk, and other oppressors need support: immigrants, federal workers, trans people, climate activists, veterans, pretty much everybody. Fortunately, they and their allies can easily learn to provide basic peer support to each other. Peer support is a powerful, widespread, well-researched, free form of self-help. In an earlier crisis of suicide and PTSD, the National Institute for Peer Support (NIPS) successfully taught these skills to thousands of returning U.S. combat vets, with peer-reviewed results, wide publicity, and an honoring in the Pentagon.

NIPS’ basic peer-support model gathers people facing similar problems and teaches them simple skills: take timed, uninterrupted, confidential listening turns, give no advice, and encourage feelings. Derived from decades of experience in both the script-based, egalitarian recovery movement and co-counseling’s emphasis on sharing feelings and overcoming oppression, the NIPS’ model also guides participants to share information and take personal and collective action.

The NIPS’ model includes one-on-one listening turns, larger support groups (3-8), topic groups to share information, and action groups to create personal and collective action plans. Ideally, new peer-support communities begin with residential weekend workshops teaching all these tools, although day-long workshops or shorter introductory presentations can suffice to get started. In all cases, participants need to follow up with individual listening turns, support groups, and workshops. Peer support works best in person, but all the tools work well online or by phone.

Like our role models in the great peer recovery movements, the leaders of peer support and this non-profit are all unpaid volunteers. However, we do pay "special workers" to build our website, publicize on social media, keep our books, etc. Please contribute to help us provide this free support in the crisis.