Grace Schneider | 2026 I.S. Symposium
Name: Grace Schneider
Title: From Peer to Peer: Legitimizing Lived Experience in Mental Health through Peer Support and its Relation Stigma​
Major: Sociology
Minor: Education
Advisor: Setsuko Matsuzawa
Mental health is something that is highly stigmatized culturally and socially. Historically, mental illness has been significantly dehumanized at a structural level and through self-stigma through the use of total institutions. The purpose of the study is to examine the impacts of the peer support modality. Peer support breaks away through the current and past medical model of mental health focusing on a non-hierarchical model. Interviews will be conducted with individuals who have lived psychiatric experience and who are currently trained and work in peer support. I am interested in examining the unique transition period they experience in relation to stigma and how they use their own capital in their community to create social change. Four different peer support organizations will be represented from the New England area that showcase the various peer support roles. The study ultimately concludes that peer support has a positive impact on the relation of stigma between themselves and the organization through a non-hierarchical model that prioritizes autonomy, mutuality, connection, and community. The interviews shed light on the importance of recognizing nuance, complexity, and the idealism of peer support. Peer support seeks to foster structural and social change within mental health by focusing on broader societal dynamics rather than solely on the individual. My own personal experience with significant mental struggles is what drove me in my research. I have the deep desire to work in peer support organizations in the future and with people who have been institutionalized in some capacity. I am particularly interested in supporting individuals with the transition back into the community.
Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.
