Virtual Training: Reimagining Youth Peer Support: A Healing-Centered Harm Reduction Approach to experiences of Self-Harm & ‘Crisis’

This session invites you to unpack and redefine traditional narratives surrounding experiences of self-harm and ‘crisis’ for youth and young adults. Facilitated through a lens of firsthand lived/ing experience, this session will consider healing-centered harm reduction and trauma-conscious approaches while navigating the complexities of existing support systems. Together, we will explore the intersecting roots of these experiences, challenge convention, and consider what it means to ‘shift the narrative’ in youth peer support!

Presented by Shayn McDonald, Youth Program Coodinator at Youth MOVE National

Shayn is a person of many intersecting lived/ing experiences that continue to guide them in their work. As a mad, queer, neurodivergent young person and trauma survivor, Shayn actively seeks to highlight the expansiveness of human experiences, alongside the impact of trauma and systemic oppression, in service of meaningful changemaking. Based in Massachusetts, Shayn entered the peer support workforce in 2017 and began as a Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) supporting adults locally through a Behavioral Health Organization, later transitioned to youth peer support and advocacy at a peer-run community organization, and ultimately joined the leadership team at Youth MOVE National. Currently, Shayn leads the ongoing development of a national youth peer support curriculum and oversees implementation efforts, supporting youth voice and agency nationwide.