Local nonprofit to bring new approach to mental health services in Central Florida
By Liv Johnson
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ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — An Orlando nonprofit is bringing a new approach to mental health services in Central Florida.
Peer Support Space is building a respite home for people experiencing mental health struggles.
This empty home in Orlando might just look like a renovation project right now, but in a few months, Yasmin Flasterstein of the nonprofit Peer Support Space is hoping it’s filled with people helping each other heal and connect.
It’s called Peer Respite Home, and it’s the first of its kind in Central Florida.
People who are 18 or older and may be experiencing mental health issues are welcome to escape to the respite home for up to a week and receive care from their peers rather than a clinical setting.
“We’re not supervision, we’re not clinical, just a space to get away and then staffed 100% by peer specialists, so people trained to use their own lived experience to hold space for people without judging or analyzing, fixing, diagnosing, Flasterstein said. “I often say peer support is not someone who’s going to make the rain go away, but someone who’s going to walk through that rain with you.”
It’s a project Flasterstein says has been in the works for almost five years with input from more than 200 people.
The home comes equipped with 3.5 bedrooms, a kitchen, game room, living room and outdoor area.
“We’re gonna have our kitchen for cooking workshops, our garden for gardening workshops are gonna have expressive art activities, just a lot of really cool, exciting ways to either deep dive your existing wellness tools, or to explore new ones,” Flasterstein said.
Meanwhile, group facilitators like Mariette Tomlinson will be there to support whoever needs it.
“I am just super excited to be a part of a model of care that is very radical and non-traditional and very tailored for different and specific needs,” Tomlinson said.
The team is hoping to open to the public in April.
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