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The Power of Lived Experience: Honouring the 2025 Canadian Mental Health Association – Calgary Region (CMHA Calgary) School of Peer Support Graduates 

Oct 27, 2025

On Saturday, September 13, the CMHA Calgary School of Peer Support celebrated a milestone moment, the graduating class of 2025. The ceremony brought together friends, family, community partners, and students whose smiles spoke volumes. The room was filled with excitement and pride, filled with the kind of energy that only comes from shared accomplishment. As the event began, anticipation hung in the air, marking not just the start of a graduation, but the celebration of resilience, growth, and community.

The CMHA Calgary School of Peer Support (SoPS) offers a unique opportunity for individuals with lived experience of mental health or substance use recovery to turn their stories into sources of strength for others. Through over 80 hours of training, 50 hours of practicum experience, and countless moments of connection, graduates gain the skills to support others on their journeys, and, in doing so, help build a more compassionate community.

Throughout the ceremony, classmates cheered one another on during heartfelt speeches and shared stories filled with courage and hope. Happy tears flowed freely as family and friends looked on, their pride and emotion filling the room.

Each graduate represented not only their own recovery journey, but also the countless others who will benefit from their empathy, understanding, and commitment to change.

We are so proud to see our Peer Support students stepping into their communities and making a difference every day. Their compassion and courage embody what it means to turn lived experience into a lasting impact. As they move forward, we know they will continue to create spaces of understanding, connection, and hope showing that recovery isn’t just possible, it’s powerful when shared.

The impact of this program reaches far beyond the walls of CMHA Calgary. Every conversation a SoPS graduate has, every person they meet creates a ripple of hope that spreads through our community. The skills they’ve learned are more than tools, they’re a testament to the strength the grows when people are seen, heard, and believed in. This ripple effect of empathy and support is already helping to shape families, workplaces and neighborhoods across Calgary and surrounding area, reminding us that healing happens together.

While the School of Peer Support takes a break this year, its spirit continues to thrive through every graduate who carries this work forward. We are extremely proud of the difference they’re making, and grateful to everyone who has supported this program along the way, including Cenovus Energy, whose generous support helped make the School of Peer Support possible.

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