01/20/2026
Do You Know Why We Call Ourselves The Nest?
Since spring of 2024, our services have included one-on-one Peer Support and Community Health Worker services. We can meet you in the community or virtually. And we have a weekly virtual group. But this is just the start of our plans for The Nest.
Our long term plan is to open a peer respite. This type of service is underutilized in Michigan and we are taking steps to be the first in Lansing to deliver this exclusively peer-led, highly accessible program.
So what is a peer respite?
🏠 Think of a cozy 2-5 day B&B that provides support to people who are in that awkward spot between just needing extra time with their therapist and needing to go to the hospital. This in-between spot often lands people in the hospital when it’s not needed, or nowhere at all.
What are peers and why should this service be peer-led?
👋🏼 Peers are people with lived experience with mental illness and training to provide equitable, evidence-based support services. They are non-clinical and, when it comes to crisis, are passionate about autonomy— the need for people to feel safe to do what it is that THEY deem necessary to prevent it.
✨ Guests have access to Peer Support and CHW services during and even after they leave The Nest.
❤️ Guests are free to come and go to attend appointments, go feed their pets, get some of their favorite comfort foods from the gas station, go to a meeting, etc. In fact, it's encouraged!
🔗 If they don’t already have it, guests are given resources and guidance on signing up for therapy, psychiatry, primary care, case management, or anything else they come to decide would ease them away from crisis and further strengthen their mental health. Peer staff can help guests find services in their network and build up the courage to make the first appointment. Or maybe it’s finding a free workout class or meetings in line with their identity. Peers can help guests find those too.
📚 And guests have the option of utilizing in-house groups, workbooks, and computers.
……….
💪🏼 Always self-determined, never a mandated service
❌ Not a replacement when inpatient hospitalization is needed
✅ But a great option to prevent hospitalization or when stepping down from hospitalization
……….
Our vision for The Nest sticks close to the peer respites across the US that yield success concerning universal accessibility & affordability, high rates of preventing hospitalizations & self harm, and guest satisfaction.
Other benefits of peer respites include
🖤 Preventing interaction with law enforcement
🖤 Improving community understanding of the nuances of crisis and the benefits of diversifying care options
>> People have a right to recover in the ways they deem suitable, and we’re excited to provide a cozy Nest for them to land in when they need it.
