Global Peer Support Celebration Day Event to Highlight Importance of ‘Battle Buddies’
At VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, more than 70 certified peer specialists, all of whom are Veterans, work side-by-side with those who’ve served, using lived experience to help guide them through recovery from mental health issues, homelessness, and substance abuse.
The crucial role of peer support, both at VAGLAHS and throughout the community, will be officially honored on Thursday, October 19, 2023, known as Global Peer Support Celebration Day.
For the first time, the annual celebration will be held at downtown LA’s historic Bob Hope Patriotic Hall. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. attendees will enjoy food, entertainment, a speaker lineup, award presentations and the chance to come together and create community.
Those interested in attending Global Peer Support Celebration Day can register online.
“I’ve been working as a social worker for more than 20 years, and I am grateful to be surrounded by peer specialists,” said Sally Hammitt, chief of VA’s Community Engagement and Reintegration Services (CERS). CERS is focused on helping Veterans experiencing homelessness, and the majority of peer specialists work within that program.
“It is incredibly valuable to have someone who has walked in the shoes of the Veterans we serve,” she said. “Peers empower Veterans and advocate for them. They help Veterans learn new coping strategies and provide a trusted space to engage in resources to reengage in their communities.”
While Global Peer Support Celebration Day has been honored by VA in previous years, it’s typically been limited to an internal audience. This is the first year that the day has become a community-wide affair, uniting different entities, including Veterans Peer Access Network (VPAN), the LA County Department of Military & Veterans Affairs and more.
The planning of this event has been led by Army Veteran and VA Lead Peer Specialist Edward Moro and Marine Corps Veteran and VA Lead Peer Specialist Noe Tejeda.
“This is a day to celebrate the work that peers do across the world, not just at VA,” said Moro.
Moro became a peer specialist in 2016 at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center’s Welcome Center, a hub for unhoused Veterans providing medical screenings, housing navigation, and other support.
As a Veteran who had to overcome mental health struggles himself, his own recovery journey was “daunting,” he said, and added that having peer support from the beginning likely would have helped his transition. “I’m thankful that I found the peer profession to help support me and tell me it’s ok to not be ok.”
For Marine Corps Veteran Tejeda, helping others has been a lifelong passion. “Even as a child, I hated people getting picked on by bullies,” he said. He has been working in different social service roles since leaving the military and was recently promoted to lead peer specialist within CERS.
Peer support can help to reduce the need for inpatient hospitalization, decrease substance use and improve quality of life for patients, according to the study “Peer Support Among Persons with Severe Mental Illnesses: A Review of Evidence and Experience,” by Larry Davidson, Chyrell Bellamy, Kimberly Guy and Rebecca Miller, published in World Psychiatry in 2012.
“Peer supports are a driving force for recovery,” said Moro. “They’re getting people through the most challenging situations in their lives. It can literally be life and death, and peer supports are there to help provide the necessary support.”
Moro and Tejeda are excited about the upcoming event and hope Global Peer Support Celebration Day continues to grow in future years, shining a spotlight on the essential work that peer support specialists do for Veterans and others in the community.
“Being a peer support means being helpful, open-minded, empathetic, respectful, and facilitating change,” said Tejeda. “We’re never pushing anybody from behind. We’re walking side by side with them.”