Peer Wellness Collective — Free Peer Wellness Self-Help Groups — Oakland, CA
Peer Wellness Collective is an Alameda County nonprofit supporting peer-run self-help services for people with mental health and substance use challenges. Founded in 1988, the Collective oversees six distinct peer-led programs across the county — each led by peers with lived mental health and/or recovery experience. Programs serve adults across Oakland, Berkeley, Hayward, and the broader East Bay, with a foundational commitment that peers themselves are the best providers of support to other peers.
What to Expect
The Collective’s six programs include drop-in wellness centers, peer-run self-help groups, recovery community programming, peer-led workshops, and ongoing community-building events — all free to participants. Drop-in centers offer a place to spend the day with other peers in a supportive, non-clinical environment with food, art, mindfulness, group conversation, and respite. Peer-led groups address mental health recovery, substance use recovery, dual diagnosis, and the intersections that often shape members’ lives. The Collective also runs peer specialist trainings to grow the broader Alameda County peer workforce.
Who This Group Is For
Peer Wellness Collective programs welcome adults 18+ across Alameda County with mental health and/or substance use challenges. Members include people in active treatment, people in long-term recovery, people who have stepped away from clinical care, and people who have never engaged with the formal mental health system. The peer-run model is intentional about not requiring members to fit a particular diagnostic, treatment, or recovery framework.
Why Peer Support Works
For many Alameda County residents, peer-run programs are the most accessible mental health and recovery resource available — no insurance required, no clinician gatekeeping, no requirement to fit a particular treatment model. Peer Wellness Collective has been demonstrating the peer-run approach for nearly 40 years in Alameda County and has built deep credibility with members and partners alike.
How to Join
Peer Wellness Collective programs are free. Visit peerwellnesscollective.org to learn about the six programs, find a drop-in center, register for peer-led groups, and contact program staff. Programs operate across multiple Alameda County locations; the site lists current schedules and locations.