06/03/2026
🌟 SHARE! Spotlight
Intern, Trainee, and Now Peer Support Specialist: Vanessa's Story
Vanessa's path to SHARE! began with a friendship and a willingness to surrender to something better. After four years of living unhoused on the streets, disconnected from her family and struggling with her mental health, Vanessa found her way to SHARE! through a friend named Elena, a Peer Support Specialist at SHARE!. What started as a step in her own recovery quickly grew into something much bigger. "This is a place where you're welcome, this is a place where you feel love and support," Vanessa says. "I call it a home because I never had that."
Now over a year and a half into her recovery, Vanessa has completed SHARE!'s Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialist Training program, earned her certificate, and joined the team at SHARE! Culver City as a Peer Support Specialist. The tools she gained through training, she says, are ones she applies every single day, inside and outside of work. "That's the beauty of SHARE!."
What makes Vanessa's approach so powerful is exactly what she has lived through. She knows firsthand what it means to feel lost, invisible, and without a support system. That shared experience is what allows her to meet others exactly where they are. "I truly believe I have a voice to use," she reflects. "Just to let other people know, I'm just as you, hop on board."
Vanessa's journey is a testament to what becomes possible when community, peer support, and lived experience come together. She came to SHARE! with nothing but willingness, and today she gives back that same hope to others. "Don't give up on yourself," she says, "because you are worth it."
SHARE!'s Collaborative Housing program has 50 homes throughout Los Angeles where you could move in within 24 to 48 hours. To learn more visit www.shareselfhelp.org/collaborative-housing.
