How to Build Peer Support Programs That Last
We've spent 15 years building and running youth peer support programs. Now we help you build yours, sharing exactly what's worked for us along the way.
Book a CallWe've Done This Ourselves — That's the Difference
Youth Era is a national, youth-led organization that's been building and running youth programs since 2009. We run the events, drop-in centers, and peer programs ourselves — so what you get is a proven playbook, staffed by peers with real lived experience and built with young people, not just for them.
What We Help You Build
How to Run a Peer Support Program
Fifteen years of running peer support programs, distilled into everything you need to launch a strong one from the ground up — or strengthen the one you already have. We hand you the playbook: program design, job descriptions, policies, staff training, supervision, and outcomes tracking — the strategies that worked and the lessons we learned the hard way, so you don't have to.
Youth Advisory Councils
Anyone can start a youth advisory council — keeping young people engaged and turning their voice into real systems change is the hard part. We run councils through local systems of care where youth have full participation, report having fun, and feel like they're making a difference — while the systems of care hit their goals. We'll teach you recruitment, meeting structure, facilitation, retention, and how to fairly compensate youth for their voice.
Peer Workforce Development
Whether you're training your organization's youth peer support specialists, a state agency creating a certification track, or building a bench of local trainers to carry the work forward — this is for you. We deliver certification-level training, then train your trainers through our Train-the-Trainer pathway, so the expertise stays with your team.
Peer Support for Recovery
A recovery-focused peer support program powered by our ready-to-use Recovery Handbook and delivered by peer staff with real lived experience of recovery and substance use — with programs built by young people in recovery themselves. If you have substance use or recovery funding, this one is ready to go on day one.
Street Outreach
Street outreach is one of the most powerful ways to connect young people to services — and one of the easiest to get wrong. We teach you how to design a youth-centric, community-based program: structure, budgeting, safety, engagement strategies, and the exact materials we bring with us — so first conversations on the street turn into lasting connections to care.
Don't See Exactly What You Need?
We also help with program assessments, crisis response, integrating youth-driven services into existing systems of care, capacity building, and outreach strategy. Tell us your challenge and we'll design a plan around it.
Let's Talk About What Your Community Needs
Book a call, or send us a note using the form below and we'll be in touch.
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