Kiva Centers

01/22/2026

We love bringing our partners in California and Massachusetts closer together, while also showing up for public events, trainings, and peer support wherever we’re needed.

It was a true pleasure filming on-site in Western Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, with our partners at Berkshire Innovation Center. Berkshire Innovation Center is a great partner for us as we think about sustainable technology and climate justice and the role that plays in our mental health. Huge thanks to our incredible production team at Digital Eyes Film, and to our friends at Disability Rights California, who joined us for an important segment of our Rise Up multimedia docuseries. This is a critical moment in civil rights and we are doing our best to meet the need in our communities.

In this episode, we explore the real and devastating impact of ICE on our mental health, and the deep unsustainability of the current U.S. immigration response. These are stories that deserve care, nuance, and visibility, and we’re honored to help amplify them.

Stay tuned for more. ✨

[Image Description: A series of behind-the-scenes photos taken inside the Berkshire Innovation Center during a film shoot. The images show a collaborative, professional environment with modern lighting, open workspaces, and innovation-focused signage. Several people are captured in candid moments, smiling together, setting up camera equipment, and being interviewed on-site, highlighting the energy of a documentary-style production. The setting features sleek architectural elements, glowing geometric light fixtures, and visible signage for the Berkshire Robotics Challenge and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, emphasizing a space dedicated to technology, education, and community innovation. The final images include wide shots of the facility, production equipment in action, and close-up details that convey a sense of purpose, collaboration, and storytelling centered on social impact and community-driven work.]

01/21/2026

Black History Month at Kiva Centers RLC ✨

This February, the Kiva Centers Recovery Learning Community is proud to host a month-long series of events honoring Black history, culture, leadership, and community.

Throughout the month, we’ll be coming together for:
🎬 Film screenings that spark reflection
🎤 Guest speakers sharing lived experience and legacy
🏛️ Museum visits and community outings
🧩 Interactive activities centered on connection and learning

We begin the month honoring the legacy of trailblazer Marshall “Major” Taylor and close out February celebrating culture, creativity, and voice through film, museum experiences, and special guest speakers.

📅 Events take place weekly throughout February 2026
📍 Kiva Centers RLC
172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA
🤝 Open to anyone 18+

Some events require sign-up — details will be shared in weekly posts.

Come learn, reflect, and build community with us this Black History Month. You are welcome here!

HONORING THE PAST • CELEBRATING THE PRESENT • BUILDING COMMUNITY

For more information or any questions please call 508-751-9600

01/17/2026

Hello everyone! Just a reminder that the Worcester RLC will be closed on Monday, January 19th, 2026 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. There will be no in-person or online groups held that day.

We look forward to seeing everyone the following day on Tuesday January 20th, 2026! ✨

01/17/2026

Our Kiva Centers New Mexico team, alongside Soteria Las Cruces Advisory Board Member Al Galves, had the honor of presenting on the Soteria Las Cruces model at the LC3 2026 Legislative Session Kickoff Convening.

Fun fact grounded in science: A study published in The Lancet Psychiatry found that integrating relational and social support into care, beyond medication alone, leads to improved outcomes for individuals experiencing psychosis (Jauhar & Lawrie, 2022). This evidence reinforces why Soteria Houses are so critical.

It was an energizing and meaningful gathering, and we are deeply grateful for the opportunity to share why the Soteria approach matters, for Doña Ana County and for the state of New Mexico.

Soteria represents one of the few true mental health crisis alternatives in the country: voluntary, relationship-centered, and grounded in dignity rather than coercion. The model reimagines how we respond to extreme states and experiences often labeled as psychosis, shifting away from isolation and force, and toward human connection, understanding, and community-based care.

We look forward to continued dialogue with policymakers and partners as we work together to build humane, effective, and evidence-informed alternatives to hospitalization.

[Image description: A photo of three people smiling and standing together at a conference table during a legislative convening, followed by an event flyer for the LC3 2026 Legislative Session Kickoff Convening highlighting community-driven behavioral health advocacy, hybrid attendance details, and the January 16 event date and time in Las Cruces, New Mexico.]

01/15/2026

Grateful for strong partnerships and shared joy.

It was a pleasure welcoming the Central Mass DMH Peer Support Team today! We appreciate that the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health prioritizes the training, certification, and hiring of Certified Peer Specialists in leadership roles, a commitment that reflects a shared value and an important point of partnership for us. Their leadership truly leads by example and sends a powerful message: leadership roles are not only possible, but essential, for people with lived experience of mental health challenges and recovery.

We are also grateful for our ongoing partnership with DMH across several areas, including our Recovery Learning Community, a vibrant community for peer support, community events, and training. Together, we continue building spaces where the leadership of those most impacted, authentic community connection, and hope are centered and celebrated.

[Image Description: Four adults of different ages sit in a cozy, brick-walled room arranged in a semicircle, each smiling and resting their hands on hand drums of various sizes. A stone fireplace and additional drums are visible behind them, with warm lamps on either side creating a welcoming atmosphere. The group appears relaxed and joyful, capturing a moment of connection, creativity, and shared community through music.]

01/14/2026

So grateful for our partnership with Stars of the Future Inc. ! Supporting youth and families through resource connections and peer support is what it’s all about.

Huge thanks to The Y and Basketball Hall of Fame for offering free classes with celebrity basketball coaches.

Kiva’s got the basketballs covered, because every kid deserves a chance to shine. 🏀✨

[Image description: A large, smiling group of children, teens, and adults stand closely together inside a cozy community room. The space has couches, pillows, and posters on the walls, creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere. The group faces the camera, many wearing casual winter clothing, with kids of different ages standing in the front and adults behind them. The overall mood feels joyful, supportive, and community-centered capturing a moment of togetherness, mentorship, and shared pride.

01/13/2026

What Is a Recovery Learning Community (RLC)?

Since 2007, nearly twenty years ago, RLCs have operated as a no-barrier resource for people experiencing mental health challenges, predating the widespread adoption of peer support as a formal practice.

A Recovery Learning Community (RLC) is a groundbreaking, peer-led model that fundamentally reimagines how we respond to mental health challenges. Rather than centering diagnosis, treatment plans, or clinical authority, RLCs center people, relationships, and lived experience.

Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, RLCs are non-clinical community hubs where people come together to learn, heal, and find community on their own terms.

RLCs offer:
• Peer support groups grounded in mutual understanding
• Recovery education and skill building for everyday life
• Community connection and leadership development
• Advocacy and mutual aid rooted

RLCs are no-barrier environments where people can talk openly about trauma and mental health struggles without fear of judgment, diagnosis, or discrimination. Importantly, RLCs are not drop-in centers. They are intentional learning communities, spaces where people develop strategies, share knowledge, and engage in self-defined recovery together over time.

There are no eligibility hurdles:
• No diagnosis required
• No referral needed
• No requirement to be in therapy
• No need to be a client of a state department

What makes RLCs truly unique is their system-shaping impact. The RLC model has directly inspired and helped create many of the most transformative peer-run innovations in Massachusetts and around the world, including:
• Peer-run drop-in centers
• Peer bridging and peer facilitation models
• Young Adult Access Centers
• Peer-run respites and mobile peer respite
• Peer Support trainings and best practices

These approaches now inform national standards for recovery-oriented care.

The model is also evidence-supported. An outcomes study of RLC participants found that engagement was associated with:
• Development of new friendships
• Increased comfort in social environments
• Reduced use of emergency services over time

These outcomes align with broader qualitative and survey data showing that RLC participation strengthens social support and community integration, two core pillars of long-term recovery.

In essence, an RLC is not a program you attend, it’s a community you belong to.

It is a living example of what becomes possible when people with lived experience are trusted to lead, teach, and care for one another. Kiva Centers is the proud home of the Central Mass Recovery Learning Community!

01/09/2026

It has been an awesome week. Many wonderful folks stopped by our Worcester RLC like our Board President Ernie Floyd. Join us today for Peer Support, Expressive Arts, Gaming Tournaments and Karaoke!

[image description:
A series of photos showing a warm, welcoming community space where people connect through creativity, music, and shared presence, smiling selfies, a small dog perched on a chair, group art-making around a table, and relaxed moments among drums, instruments, and cozy seating, capturing a sense of belonging, joy, and collective care.]

01/09/2026

Community in action!

Huge thank you to our partners at The Compassion Project, a new nonprofit in Worcester dedicated to supporting people who are houseless by providing immediate resources and meaningful connections.

We’re so grateful for the generous donation of Compassion Kits, backpacks filled with hygiene supplies, gloves, hats, toothbrushes, and more.

These kits are now available at our Worcester Recovery Learning Community.

[Image description: Three photos showing community care in action, partners smiling while holding donated backpacks and compassion kits, followed by close-ups of the kits’ contents, including hygiene supplies, food, hand warmers, and printed local resource lists, laid out on a colorful patterned traditional cloth.]

01/09/2026

What an amazing start to 2026! ✨

Huge thank you to Stars of the Future for hosting such a beautiful event at our Kiva Southbridge Recovery Connection Center.

And special thanks to Jasmin Rivas for sharing the magic of the Three Kings Day tradition from a delicious homemade rosca de reyes to learning joyful Bomba dance moves 🎶💃🏽

01/09/2026

Next week! Free training!

The Role of Peer support as an Indigenous Practice, rooted in community, culture, and lived experience.

January 16 | 1:00PM –3:00PM ET

Free + Certificate provided

Registration Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/318f7JlnTteRek20L2sP8A #/registration

[Image Description: A close-up photograph of hands working with woven fabric or textile patterns, evoking traditional Indigenous craftsmanship. Overlaid text reads: “The Role of Peer Support as an Indigenous Practice.” The Kiva Centers logo appears at the top. Event details include January 16th, 1:00–3:00 PM ET, Webinar via Zoom, and “Registration Link in Description.” The image conveys warmth, tradition, and community connection.]

01/07/2026