Community Wellness and Peer Support
MANA’s Community Wellness and Peer support program provides emotional support to individuals dealing with mental health challenges through one-on-one or group sessions using Intentional Peer Support model as a supplement to obtaining conventional mental health services.
Although Intentional Peer Support generally focuses on the tasks of mental health challenges and substance abuse, MANA’s team also integrates the lived experience of moving to the United States from their own home countries as a way to establish shared understanding and find mutuality with community members. This helps to foster organic relationships and offer opportunities for community members to narrate their trauma experience without having the burden of navigating the language or educating the listener on the unique details of the cultures, traditions, and migration journey.
We offer one-on-one and group sessions to pre-teens and up!
MANA also offers Wellness Workshops with the goal to meet the needs of our communities. Our support groups and workshops are uniquely tailored to acknowledge, enrich and support different age-groups.
Programs We Offer
#WEOUTSIDE
#WEOUTSIDE winter will pivot off our summer long outdoors program to offer youth an opportunity to experience Maines outdoors in the winter! Through a continued partnership with the Maine Appalachian Land Trust and other outdoor organizations we aim to offer youth a chance to learn how to enjoy Maine across seasons!
Women’s Wellness
“A crucial component of our overall wellness is our self-care practice. In the hectic fast-paced world we are living in we often forget to slow down and check in with ourselves. MANA’s Wellness Team aims to cultivate safe nurturing spaces where women can come together to break bread, paint, visit local gardens, have meaningful conversation and/or do a facial. Whichever comes first! Held every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month.
#GOALS
The #GOALS Program aims at supporting young people in high schools to articulate and reach their academic, personal, and wellness goals.
We provide bi-weekly meetings and seasonal retreats in natural settings to provide youth the opportunity to explore career paths and civic missions in the community and redefine their life choices while also getting an opportunity to ground themselves and enjoy the Maine outdoors through collaboration with our partners.
Older Adults Wellness
In order to combat the public health crisis of isolation among immigrant communities, MANA offers wellness workshops for older Adults.
Our Wellness Team facilitates on-site activities that encourage physical and mental wellness, as well as take participants to places in the community where they can find natural support.
View program updates and photos on our social media
"I finally feel alive!"
#WEOUTSIDE Participant
Past Programs Offered
#WEOUTSIDE Summer 2023
MANA and the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust (MATLT) created this program in the summer of 2023 for middle school age youth who were housed in hotels or the Portland Expo Center, and other immigrant youth participating in MANA’s Peer Support program. These participants had traveled through harsh outdoor conditions to arrive in Maine in detention centers and then shelters and hotels. They were actively navigating the asylum system and seeking stable housing, but as summer approached many of these young asylum seekers had more free time to explore their new surroundings.
A total of 27 youth went on 8 challenging educational adventures around Maine. Participants experienced the beautiful Maine outdoors while connecting with immigrant leaders & peers. MANA & MATLT staff created a safe space for healing & being in relationship with nature. Also woven in were components of climate education & introductions to job opportunities in Maine's outdoor industry. A huge thank you to all our partners and donors for making this possible!
#GOALS Series
In partnership with Portland Adult Ed, this series supported highschool age and Youth aged out of school to remain motivated to go for their GED as well as other personal goals.
Immigrant Dreams & Guilt Sessions
Achieving the American Dream is a constant struggle for every immigrant youth. In this peer support group, first and second-generation youth come together to process the pressures they experience around this BIG dream.
“I Am” Program
King Middle School creative writing students wrote identity poems in the style of John Clark's "I Am," discovering the deeper layers of what makes up their personal narratives.
Evening of Connection
Freeport hotel residents enjoyed a fun evening of connection and self-care with MANA staff in partnership with the Yarmouth First Universalist Church. In the large church community room, young and old alike enjoyed snacks, music, games, crafts, and making slime!
Getting Outside
Casco Bay Hotel residents participated in nature walks aimed to promote mental and physical health and wellness as well as introduce them to the beauty of the Maine outdoors
Parenting Support Group
Multi-lingual fun brought Immigrant parents into serious conversations about parenting in a new culture with numerous strict rules and regulations to follow. Classes were co-facilatated by MANA, the City of Portland and Portland Adult Education.
#SAYWORD Workshops
Domestic violence survivors and allies met in a series of #sayword peer-led workshops using writing as a therapeutic tool. Connecting in this way aids in the healing process.
Mental Health and SUD Peer Support Group
MANA collaborated with Generational Noor to de-stigmatize substance abuse, mental health, alcoholism, and drug abuse in immigrant Youth. This 8-week summer program fostered safe spaces for conversation, education and support for family members or loved ones facing similar challenges. Sessions were held in Portland and Lewiston. One-on-one support was also offered.
"It’s important for BIPOC youth like us to have a safe space, especially with a group full of other brilliant young women who I now trust and feel vulnerable with."
Women Wellness participant
Testimonials