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Alliance Note: Thanks to Governor Hochul and OMH Mental Health Commissioner Ann Sullivan, ���������� will be expanding access to peer support groups for veterans across the state via an initiative named in honor of Joseph P. Dwyer, a US Army Medic in the Iraq War. Started in 2012, the Dwyer Program offers peer-to-peer counseling for veterans living with  PTSD or TBI and any veteran looking to reintegrate into civilian society. It is partly based on the peer Vet to Vet model created by Moe Armstrong, whose extraordinary life and work was honored by the Alliance last year with our Sally Zinman Lifetime Achievement Award. See more about Moe and the Vet to Vet model .

Peer-To-Peer Veteran Support Program Expands Into all 62 Counties
By Spencer Conlin  Spectrum News  Albany/Capital Region  November 1, 2023

As Veterans Day nears, a critical peer-to-peer program is marking an important milestone.

“Since its inception, the Dwyer program, get this, over 12,000 support groups,” said Eric Hardiman of UAlbany’s School of Social Welfare.

Designed to reduce the isolation of veterans and associated mental health issues, the Private First-Class Joseph P. Dwyer Peer Support Program was launched 10 years ago.

“Some veterans come home and they’re OK,” said Army veteran Brent Russell. “Some veterans come home and they’re not OK.”

Russell also leads the Mental Health Association of Nassau County Veteran Services. He’s familiar with the challenges, which inspires his involvement with the statewide program and its non-clinical services provided exclusively by veterans.

“Peer support has a strong role in helping individuals to come home and get re-acclimate to society,” he said. “And more importantly, re-acclimate to their families.”

The program’s namesake is Joseph P. Dwyer, an Army medic in the Iraq War from ���������� whose struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder led to his untimely death in 2008.

“Dwyer opens the door and says, ‘If you served, come on in, you’re one of us, we’re here for you. Let’s talk,’” said state Department of Veterans’ Services Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Pomerance.

Having begun in four of the state’s counties in 2012, the program recently expanded into all 62 counties.

“Our counties only have $180,000, $50,000, but the VA has billions of dollars,’ explained Hudson Valley Center for Veteran Reintegration’s Gavin Walters. “But we do more than what the VA does.”

For veterans who might find themselves lost or need of support, Russell shared a message.

“Give us a try. Worst case scenario is you won’t like us,” he said. “For the most part, I think that you will because we understand you, we understand who you are because we’re veterans, just like you are.”