Project Return Peer Support Network News Today

Karl Tapales/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- When Angelica Garcias high school crush, first love, and father of her two children died unexpectedly, she said, her life went into a free fall. The Los Angeles native said she struggled to cope; within months, she started using marijuana, then cocaine and methamphetamine. "I didnt have the tools to deal with my emotions," Garcia told ABC News. "[So] I started self-medicating." Years later, after struggling with homelessness, depression,...

Karl Tapales/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- When Angelica Garcias high school crush, first love, and father of her two children died unexpectedly, she said, her life went into a free fall. The Los Angeles native said she struggled to cope; within months, she started using marijuana, then cocaine and methamphetamine. "I didnt have the tools to deal with my emotions," Garcia told ABC News. "[So] I started self-medicating." Years later, after struggling with homelessness, depression,...

Karl Tapales/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- When Angelica Garcias high school crush, first love, and father of her two children died unexpectedly, she said, her life went into a free fall. The Los Angeles native said she struggled to cope; within months, she started using marijuana, then cocaine and methamphetamine. "I didnt have the tools to deal with my emotions," Garcia told ABC News. "[So] I started self-medicating." Years later, after struggling with homelessness, depression,...

Karl Tapales/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- When Angelica Garcias high school crush, first love, and father of her two children died unexpectedly, she said, her life went into a free fall. The Los Angeles native said she struggled to cope; within months, she started using marijuana, then cocaine and methamphetamine. "I didnt have the tools to deal with my emotions," Garcia told ABC News. "[So] I started self-medicating." Years later, after struggling with homelessness, depression,...

Karl Tapales/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- When Angelica Garcias high school crush, first love, and father of her two children died unexpectedly, she said, her life went into a free fall. The Los Angeles native said she struggled to cope; within months, she started using marijuana, then cocaine and methamphetamine. "I didnt have the tools to deal with my emotions," Garcia told ABC News. "[So] I started self-medicating." Years later, after struggling with homelessness, depression,...

Karl Tapales/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- When Angelica Garcias high school crush, first love, and father of her two children died unexpectedly, she said, her life went into a free fall. The Los Angeles native said she struggled to cope; within months, she started using marijuana, then cocaine and methamphetamine. "I didnt have the tools to deal with my emotions," Garcia told ABC News. "[So] I started self-medicating." Years later, after struggling with homelessness, depression,...

Trieste’s community mental health program does not define people by their illness.

Through peer support, people with experience managing recovery from a mental health challenge help someone in the recovery process. Here's how to get it if you need it, and how one can become a peer support specialist.