SOLVE
(Sharing Our Lives, Voices, and Experiences)
SOLVE is a peer-led education campaign and speaker’s bureau where Peer Educators share powerful stories about their mental health journeys, challenging societal stigmas, including public, structural, and self-stigma.
Funded by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, SOLVE provides free in-person and virtual presentations to the community. SOLVE Peer Educators, stipend volunteers with lived experience, share personal stories of resilience and recovery, fostering understanding and promoting mental health as an essential part of one’s overall well-being.
Replacing Stigma with Empathy and Understanding
Stigma is a major barrier to mental health care, often driven by fear and misinformation. SOLVE combats this by empowering people through peer education, replacing misconceptions with personal stories of recovery, challenges, hope, and triumphs.
Their stories affirm that mental health challenges do not define a person’s worth and that recovery is possible.
Each year, SOLVE reaches over 400 community members and offers two 12-hour Peer Educator trainings for those interested in becoming SOLVE Peer Educators. Through these efforts, SOLVE creates lasting change, encouraging open conversations about mental health wellness.
