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Real Stories. Real Support. Real Community.
The power of peer support can be seen in the lives of the people we serve every
day. Throughout June and July, we'll be sharing stories from members, volunteers, peer coaches, and community leaders whose lives have been impacted by connection, support, and recovery. These stories remind us that recovery happens in many different ways, but one
thing remains constant
Recovery Happens Together.
Anthony Luna - Peer Spokane
My journey into recovery originally started September 5th, 2001. I was getting ready to visit Washington to see family. They were all people who were in recovery and very active in the recovery community. My drugs of choice at the time were weed and alcohol. As soon as I got to Washington, I had 3 days of sobriety under my belt. I spent a week with those relatives and remained clean for the whole time.
When I got back to California, I kept my recovery going. I was able to get seven years of sobriety by working my program, going to meetings, working the steps (12-step), and building my support system. During that time, I had some personal resentments build up in my mind. Because of these resentments, I ended up using for 3 weeks. It was at this time that I was able to get back on track, starting May 24, 2008.
I kept working my program, working my steps, and gathering more and more time. As it stands today, I have accrued 17 years and six months. May 24th of 2026 I will be celebrating 18 years of sobriety. For the past 8 years, I have been a productive member of two different peer support organizations, Recovery Cafe and Peer Spokane.
At Peer Spokane, I was there in the beginning when they first opened, and I have been an active member and volunteer ever since. Peer Spokane has helped my recovery tremendously by instilling a strong sense of hope and stability for my sobriety. I have been able to witness the positive impact that I have had on other people's recovery process by volunteering and leading by example.
It has also strengthened my own recovery process. I have also taken several training opportunities, such as the peer coach and facilitator training. I have also done environmental, barista, and kitchen training, becoming certified in those areas.
Scott Kovacs - Peer Seattle
I arrived in Seattle in 2009 knowing about the power of peer relationships in recovery. Having served as a peer counselor in my home state of Arizona, I knew that having a side-by-side relationship with others on the journey would be the best way to continue the work.
After several encounters with relapse, I found that community in Strength Over Speed at Dunshee House. Without question, those encounters were the place where healing relationships were fostered, and I found myself part of an early cohort of peer support trainer-of-trainers initiated by Peer Seattle.
Following that, my journey included becoming a certified Peer Support Counselor in Washington, and my time at SOS and Peer Seattle included assisting with group facilitation and direct support of others experiencing addiction.
When the journey to wholeness takes you away from these experiences, they have a way of remaining a part of your life anchor. I later became the Recovery Specialist for the Mental Health Chaplaincy of Seattle, all while reuniting with my joy of singing in choirs and making music with others. Some time after my frequent visits to SOS had concluded, I found myself full circle when I was singing Christmas Carols with my group at the Christmas Tree lot I had once volunteered at.
While my work and career have turned back to music full-time, I am the "peer chaplain"
within my community, and continue to stand alongside those experiencing addiction,
trauma, and recovery.
Peer Seattle is a vital anchor for those seeking community in their journey to wholeness and recovery. I hope that, however you encounter peer support, you know you are not alone, that recovery is possible, and that none of us does it alone.
Rae Florance - Peer Kent
My name is Rae Dawn Florance, and I was born and raised on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. But behind the beautiful scenery, my childhood was marked by drugs, violence, a broken home, and the weight of generational trauma. Those early years planted battles inside me, battles I would spend years learning how to face.
As a teenager, I struggled deeply with my mental health and overwhelming insecurities. I turned to drugs to cope, and meth quickly became my escape. My life became entangled with trauma. Being raped as a teen, inflicting self-harm, stealing, and getting arrested multiple times in high school. I was surrounded by peers who were also stuck in the same painful cycles, and I experienced the heartbreak of losing friends to suicide. Relapse constantly hung over me that I couldn't outrun.
When I finally reached out for help, rehab wasn't available because of overcrowding. Instead, I was given a chance to attend the Youth Challenge Academy, a military-based program in Hawaii. That experience changed my life. It gave me structure, something I didn't realize I not only needed but thrived in. With discipline and support, I finished high school and, for the first time, saw a future for myself. That spark of hope led me to enlist in the Army.
But life tested me again. My military career was cut short due to an abusive relationship and domestic violence, which pushed me into another relapse. Even then, rock bottom became a turning point. I knew that if I wanted a different life, I had to fight for it with everything I had left.
With strength, willpower, and faith, I began rebuilding. Step by step, I transformed the pain that once defined me into something meaningful, into purpose.
Peer Kent is where that purpose took shape. Through the Peer Coaching Program, I was matched with an incredible coach who helped me rediscover what it meant to love myself again. After completing my coaching sessions, I got brave. I stepped out of my comfort zone and became a volunteer at Peer Kent. That is where I realized that my story mattered—and that it could help others. I became a Recovery Coach and, eventually, a Certified Peer Counselor.
Today, I serve my community as a Peer Support Specialist at the Kent Public Library through Peer Community. I stand here as a wife to my husband, James, nearly 15 years strong, and as a mother of three beautiful children. Every day, I strive to be better than the day before. I share my story with anyone willing to listen because I know there are people out there who feel alone in their struggles, just as I once did.
My journey is living proof that no matter how dark life gets, hope can still grow there, and so can you.
Shanon Pardee - Peer Olympia
Once upon a time, there was a broken mother. She was so broken she didn't know what to do. She was referred to Peer Olympia, and this is where her journey began anew, not in haste or in a hurry, but day by day, week by week, of showing up and being present.
She interacted with new people and learned a whole new way of viewing the world. To view through the rainbow lenses of love and tolerance for all.
People patiently tolerated her as she learned, and they gently showed her a new way.
It is with much love and gratitude that she looks at this space, all filled with wonder and
beautiful grace. Thank you to all who give time here.❤️
