What started as a journey to find her own way forward became a commitment to help other women do the same.
When Lea Prince arrived at CARITAS and The Healing Place for Women in August 2024, she wanted to run away. Instead, she learned how to “sit still,” and eventually, how to help other women do the same.
Through structure, community, and connection, Lea found, as she describes, a new way of living in recovery. After completing the program, she worked as a Peer Mentor, providing invaluable experience to support women who were beginning their own journeys. Today, as a new Recovery Corps Peer Navigator, she supports the peer mentors – the same role she once held herself.
Peer support brings something unique to recovery. Peers understand the challenges because they have lived them, and can offer something powerful: the reminder that change is possible and that no one has to walk through it alone.
This National Recovery Month, we sat down with Lea to talk about her experience at CARITAS, the importance of peer support, and what recovery means to her today.
How was your experience at CARITAS and The Healing Place? After going through The Healing Place, what made you want to be a Peer Mentor?
When I first came to CARITAS in August 2024, I wanted to run away. The Healing Place gave me the structure I needed. I had it as a child, but I lost it somewhere along the way. It reminded me of that, and gave me the time to relearn how to sit still.
Then, in October 2024, I hit a tough period of my journey, I had a realization: I wanted to help the other women. I wanted to be able to do for others what they had done for me in this program.
This realization helped me decide that serving as a Peer Mentor was the best way to give back.
What does a typical day look like as a Peer Mentor?
A lot of my day is about being present with the women here – sitting over coffee, praying together, watching for where they need guidance, and giving them the support they need to get there. I’m paying attention to people, not just going through the motions. It’s being present and sharing the program with other women. It’s also staying connected to the people whose recovery I aspire to, as well. The process never stops.
Why do you think peers are so important?
It’s so important to help people find their worth, regardless of their circumstances. As women, it’s so easy to run and stay stuck in that loop. You have to find that worth inside yourself to get out of it.
Women in the program before me helped me find that worth. Now I get to do it for other women just starting out.
Can you share a moment you saw the impact of peers on others?
Being a peer is a lot of people-to-people, and being present.
I really connected with a woman here named Amy when I was in the program. She was tough on me, but it was out of love.
I want to be the same way with the women I work with now – to be there for them, to want better for them, because I care about them. Sometimes that means celebrating a win, and sometimes it means having a hard conversation. Either way, I want them to know someone’s in their corner.
What does recovery mean to you today? What would you say to yourself on your 1st day at CARITAS?
Recovery is a way of life. You’re being given another chance at life, and to sit still and let your Higher Power take care of you.
Each One, Reach One
For Lea, recovery has grown from something she was learning for herself into something she now gets to share with others.
Her story is a reminder of the power of peer support, showing up, sharing what we’ve learned, and helping someone else see their own potential.
This Recovery Month, we celebrate Each One, Reach One, the idea that recovery grows through one person reaching back to help the next. To join us in celebration, leave a message of encouragement for someone in recovery, join us at an upcoming Recovery Month event, or make a donation to help CARITAS continue creating pathways to recovery in our community.