About Us
About Us
Maine PeerLink, the new name of the Youth Peer Support Statewide Network, is a free, voluntary program for Maine youth and young adults ages 14 to 26.
We connect young people with trained Youth Peer Support Specialists: people with their own firsthand experience navigating mental health challenges, life transitions, and personal growth and recovery. For us, peer isn’t a title. It’s a relationship built on shared experience and mutuality.
Maine PeerLink is a program of Community Care, a Maine nonprofit that has spent decades supporting youth, families, and individuals across the state. Community Care’s mission is to provide community-based services that promote health, well-being, and independence, and PeerLink grew out of that same commitment, built specifically for young people who want peer support rather than clinical services.
Community Care handles referrals into PeerLink, and its statewide network of offices helps make sure PeerLink can reach young people in every region, not just the areas closest to a main office. When you reach out to PeerLink, you’re connecting with a program backed by an organization that’s been rooted in Maine communities for a long time.
PeerLink is non-clinical. This isn’t therapy, case management, or medical treatment. There’s no diagnosis and no treatment plan, just people offering encouragement, understanding, mentorship, and practical support grounded in what they’ve lived through.
Peer Support Specialists can help young people build coping skills, set goals, connect with community resources, strengthen relationships, grow their confidence, and work through challenges such as stress, anxiety, school attendance, transitions, and social connection.
All of it is youth-driven. The young person leads the conversation and decides what goals matter and what kind of support feels right. We follow their lead.
PeerLink is not a crisis service. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health emergency, is at risk of harming themselves or others, or needs immediate assistance:
- Call 911
- Call or text 988
- Text 741-741 (Crisis Text Line)
- Go to your nearest emergency department
PeerLink operates across three regions, so there’s a way to connect wherever you are located in Maine.
Region 1. York and Cumberland County.
Region 2. Androscoggin, Oxford, Franklin, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Kennebec, and Somerset.
Region 3. Penobscot, Piscataquis, Washington, Hancock, and Aroostook.
Every region offers in-person drop-ins. Virtual options connect you no matter where you live.