TEAO Canada is honoured to introduce our first cohort of certified Trauma-Responsive Care Personnel — a groundbreaking step in our commitment to making mental-health support accessible, relational, culturally aware, and rooted in lived experience.

These Peer Support Personnel represent the heart of TEAO’s mission:
Community members supporting community members with gentleness, embodiment, and evidence-informed care.

What Is Trauma-Responsive Peer Support?

Trauma-responsive peer support is a relational, body-based approach to care that centres safety, agency, and compassion.
It is grounded in the understanding that trauma lives in the nervous system — and that healing requires presence, attunement, and co-regulation, not fixing or pathologizing.

Our Trauma-Responsive Care Personnel are trained to:

Create felt-sense safety in moments of crisis
Support regulation using embodied practices
Listen with curiosity instead of assumption
Witness with empathy rather than overwhelm
Offer support without carrying or absorbing someone’s story
Maintain boundaries rooted in dignity and mutual respect
Walk alongside people navigating distress, uncertainty, or major life events

This approach ensures that support honours people’s lived experiences, cultural realities, and nervous-system needs.

About the Certification

Our first cohort completed TEAO’s Peer Support Certification, an intensive learning journey that explored:

Foundations of trauma-responsive care
Embodied regulation practices for creating relational safety
The 5-Step Peer Crisis Support Model
Grounding tools, somatic orientation, and co-regulation
Active listening, reflective dialogue, and story-honouring
Supporting others in crisis without fixing
Caring for community without carrying their pain

Participants didn’t just learn skills — they softened, unlearned, and re-learned how to hold space in ways that honour the whole human being.

Our Peer Support Personnel: What They Offer

As Trauma-Responsive Care Personnel, our certified peers are available to support the community through:

Why This Matters

This milestone reflects TEAO’s vision for what mental-health care can be:

accessible
culturally responsive
community-rooted
relationally safe
grounded in embodiment rather than urgency
guided by lived experience and trauma-responsive principles

Our Peer Support Personnel are expanding what it means to respond to crisis with care — not from a place of authority, but from a place of attunement, humanity, and solidarity.

Walking With, Not Ahead

As these newly certified practitioners begin their journey with TEAO Canada, they will walk beside community members in moments of need — offering presence, grounding, and support without judgement or expectation.

This is trauma-responsive peer support.
This is embodied community care.
This is TEAO Canada.

Meet the Peer-Support Team:

CHRISTIE LEE

Christie is passionate about supporting mental health and ensuring that everyone has access to spaces where they feel safe, included, and valued. She believes that healing should be accessible to all, regardless of background or experience, and that community plays a vital role in that process. For Christie, TEAO's spaces are important because they give people an inclusive place to come as they are, without barriers or judgment, and feel supported in their healing and growth. She hopes to contribute to an environment where people feel genuinely welcome and supported as they explore their own paths to healing.
She believes that everyone is the expert in their own journey and experiences, and that healing begins when people feel heard and empowered to make choices for themselves. Honoring someone’s voice means recognizing their perspective as valid and important, and creating space for them to express it freely. To her, supporting mental health also means helping others reclaim that sense of agency, so they can move forward with confidence and self-trust.

ZAINAB (ZAYN) DIKKO

Zainab (Zayn) Dikko is a certified Peer Supporter and Trauma-Responsive Care practitioner with TEAO Canada. She also serves as TEAO’s Community Engagement and Outreach Coordinator, helping lead outreach initiatives, community partnerships, and trauma-informed programming across Ontario.
As a Black immigrant woman with lived experience navigating cultural change and faith transitions, Zayn brings empathy, openness, and a deep understanding of how identity, belonging, and systemic barriers shape healing. Her approach blends professional training in peer support, crisis response, and counselling skills with a grounded, relational practice rooted in compassion and cultural humility. She is currently completing her Bachelor’s in Social Development Studies at the University of Waterloo, where she focuses on mental health and community wellbeing.
Zayn believes trauma-responsive care is essential because many people move through life carrying experiences that were never acknowledged or supported. In our communities, unaddressed trauma often shows up as isolation, anger, or silence. Trauma-responsive care helps create spaces where people feel seen, safe, and empowered to rebuild trust both in themselves and in others.

EMMA MUKKADAN

Emma Mukkadan (she/her) is an Indian-Canadian woman who has graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in psychology. Her experience in research and client-care focuses on promoting the mental well-being of marginalized groups, especially racial, gender, and sexual minorities. As a result, the value of TEAO that most resonates with her is equity and belonging. As someone who has experienced culturally incompetent care and lack of support from mental health service providers, Emma believes effective, trauma-informed care should include all voices and experiences. Within TEAO, Emma aims to create this safe space for minorities to feel uplifted and validated through her role as a trauma responsive care personnel.

**Apurva Sugenthiran**

Apurva is passionate about supporting others, which began through her own healing journey and her experience with TEAO. She expresses her love for the organization through their collective care practices in creating warm, inclusive, and safe spaces.
She is dedicated to making support more accessible and building genuine connections within the community. Inspired by TEAO’s commitment to inclusivity, she strives to create environments where all individuals feel empowered to openly share their stories and explore their resilience. They value recognizing and respecting diverse cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and practices to ensure mental health is inclusive of individual needs.
Through her involvement, she hopes to make a meaningful impact by helping others develop self-agency as they progress along their personal journeys of growth and healing.

How You Will Be Connected to a TEAO Peer Support Person

TEAO’s Peer Support Program is designed to offer gentle, trauma-responsive support from trained community members who understand what it means to navigate stress, crisis, and life transitions.

We’re glad you reached out! Here is what you can expect from our process:

Step 1 — Reach Out to TEAO

You can connect with us in two ways:

By completing our Peer Support Referral Form, or
By emailing us at info@teaocanada.com

This helps us learn what you’re looking for and how we can support you.

Step 2 — A TEAO Team Member Will Follow Up

After you reach out, someone from our team will contact you to:

understand what’s going on for you
learn what kind of support feels comfortable
make sure peer support is the right fit
talk through any immediate needs or safety concerns

This step ensures you receive care that feels safe, grounded, and appropriate for your situation.

Step 3 — We Match You With a Peer Support Person

We will thoughtfully match you with one of our trained Trauma-Responsive Care Personnel based on:

your needs
what you’re looking for
availability
lived-experience alignment when appropriate

Our goal is to make sure the person supporting you feels like the right fit.

Step 4 — Your Peer Support Person Receives Your Introduction

Before they reach out to you, your Peer Support Person will receive:

a brief summary of what you shared
confirmation that you’ve completed the consent form
the agreed-upon support timeline (4–6 weeks)
any important information that helps create a safe space

Your personal information is kept private, and your Peer Support Person does not receive anything beyond what is needed to support you with care and respect.

Step 5 — Your Peer Support Person Reaches Out to You

Once everything is set up, you will hear directly from your Peer Support Person to schedule your first support session.

Your support relationship will last 4–6 weeks, focusing on:

grounding
emotional stabilization
embodied support
connection
practical tools for navigating stress, overwhelm, or crisis
next steps in your healing or support journey

We may also suggest TEAO workshops, circles, or programs that can help you continue integrating and healing at your own pace.

You Are Not Alone in This

Our entire process is designed to honour:

your safety
your voice
your pace
your cultural and lived experience
your right to choose what feels supportive

You deserve care that meets you where you are.

If you have questions at any point, you can email us at:
info@teaocanada.com

We’re here to walk with you — not ahead of you, and never without you.

Ontario Peer-to-Peer Support Services Directory

This directory includes organizations in Ontario that offer peer-to-peer (consumer/survivor) programs. Peer-to-peer services are community-based and delivered by those who self-identify with the peer group they are supporting. For example, for someone who has recovered from addiction leading an addiction support group is a peer-led service. Research shows that these peer-led programs can provide effective, meaningful, and competent care for those who are struggling in our communities. All services are free unless otherwise noted.

If your peer-to-peer organization would like to be featured in our directory, please send your information to nicole@teaocanada.ca

NORTHERN ONTARIO

RECOVERY & MENTAL HEALTH

CMHA Fort Frances https://fortfrances.cmha.ca/services/

Lived Experience and Recovery Network, Temagami http://livedexperience.org/about-us/

CMHA North Bay https://nbd.cmha.ca/

NISA Northern Initiative for Social Action, Sudbury http://nisa.on.ca/

PACE - People Advocating for Change through Empowerment, Thunder Bay https://pace-tbay.net/

Indigenous Peer Support

Nipissing First Nation - True Self Program: Debwewendizwin https://nfn.ca/true-self/

OTTAWA, KINGSTON & SURROUNDING AREAS

Recovery & Mental Health

Peer Support Eastern Ontario https://psseo.ca/

Mental Health Support Project, Lanark County https://connectwell.ca/

Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa https://www.pso-ottawa.ca/peer-support

CMHA Ottawa https://ottawa.cmha.ca/about-cmha/for-clients/peer-support/

Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre https://wocrc.ca/program/peer-support-program/

LGBTQ+ PEER SUPPORT

MAX Ottawa Peer Support Program https://maxottawa.ca/programs/peer-support/

BARRIE, COLLINGWOOD, PETERBOROUGH, OWEN SOUND & AREA

Recovery & Mental Health

CMHA Muskoka-Parry Sound https://mps.cmha.ca/

Waypoint Patient/Client and Family Council, Penetanguishene https://www.waypointcentre.ca/patients___families/patient_client___family_council

Simcoe Peer Support for Mental Health and Addictions, Collingwood https://mentalhealthandaddictions.com/

CMHA Grey Bruce https://greybruce.cmha.ca/mental-health-services/peer-family-support/consumer-survivor-development-program/

CMHA Haliburton, Kawarthas, Pine Ridge https://cmhahkpr.ca/

Home and Community Care Support Services http://www.centraleastlhin.on.ca/priorities/mentalhealthandaddictions.aspx

INDIGENOUS PEER SUPPORT

Barrie Native Friendship Centre https://www.barrienfc.ca/

LGBTQ+ PEER SUPPORT

North Simcoe Muskoka Trans Health Services https://barriefht.ca/north-simcoe-muskoka-trans-health-services/

GREATER TORONTO AREA

Recovery, Mental Health & HOUSING SUPPORT

Gerstein Crisis Center (WRAP Program), Toronto https://gersteincentre.org/wellness-and-recovery/wrap/

House link https://houselink.on.ca/

North York General Hospital Participant's Council https://www.nygh.on.ca/areas-care/mental-health/participants-council

CMHA Peel/Dufferin https://cmhapeeldufferin.ca/types-programs-services/group-and-peer-support-programs/

Durham Mental Health Services https://dmhs.ca/cause/consumer-survivor/

Krasman Centre https://krasmancentre.com/

PARC - The Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre https://parc.on.ca/programs

Support House https://supporthouse.ca/peer-services/

YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH

Stella’s Place https://stellasplace.ca/peer-support/

Community Justice and Legal Services

Sound Times https://soundtimes.com/services/

employment opportunities

A-Way Express Transportation Services https://www.awayexpress.ca/ *this is not a free service, but a peer-led income opportunity for those in recovery