2026 Missouri PEER Symposium

The 2026 Missouri Peer Symposium is a unique gathering for peer support professionals to come together as educators, learners, and leaders. Unlike traditional conferences where knowledge often flows from clinicians or administrators to peers, this Symposium celebrates the expertise that comes from lived experience and peer practice. It is a space where peers share what they know best, refine advocacy and communication skills, and explore innovative approaches to supporting recovery.

The Symposium encourages certified peers to present and learn about topics they are passionate about, offering practical insights, strategies, and tools that peers can apply in their own work. Sessions are designed to spark collaboration, foster peer leadership, and strengthen the collective impact of the peer support community across Missouri.

Recognizing the importance of authentic connection, the Symposium is held as a camping event. Gathering in nature allows participants to step away from traditional conference settings and create an environment that fosters openness, trust, and meaningful relationships. This setting reflects the roots of peer connection—sharing stories, learning from one another, and building supportive networks that endure beyond the event itself.

The 2026 Missouri Peer Symposium features sessions across a range of topics, organized into broad tracks:

• Education & Skill Building: Practical tools and strategies peers can use to enhance their work.

• Advocacy & Leadership: Exploring ways to influence systems, policies, and practices from a peer perspective.

• Wellness & Recovery Support: Approaches to strengthen personal and community recovery, self-care, and resilience.

While sessions are grouped by track, presentations can span multiple areas where relevant. All submissions should focus on peer support work and reflect the unique perspectives, experience, and wisdom of the peer community.

The Missouri Peer Symposium is more than a conference—it’s a space where peers step into roles as teachers, innovators, and leaders, sharing knowledge that is often overlooked in traditional professional settings. Together, we learn, connect, and shape the future of peer-supported recovery.

Our Mission

The Symposium grew out of an honest conversation among a group of peers.

We were reflecting on how often we, as peer professionals, receive our education and training from those in other disciplines — clinicians, administrators, and academics — rather than from each other. While those perspectives are valuable, we realized that our own lived experience and the collective wisdom of the peer community are too rarely celebrated as sources of education.

The Symposium was born from that realization and a desire to create a space where peers are not just participants, but presenters, teachers, and leaders. We wanted a forum where we can learn from each other’s professional experience and refine the advocacy and communication skills that make our work so impactful. The intention is to empower peers to step into the role of educators and innovators within the recovery field and to claim our place as essential voices shaping how recovery is understood and supported. We chose to make the Symposium a camping event to reflect the roots of peer connection. Being in nature allows us to step away from the formalities of a conference room and instead gather in a space that fosters openness, and genuine human connection.