Stepping Stone Peer Support Center opened in July, 1995, in Claremont, New Hampshire, with a core membership of approximately 12 people. In September, 1996, our sister program, Next Step, was opened in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Our objective is to provide a safe, comfortable, nonjudgmental environment where members could risk practicing new behaviors. Through education and personal discovery, members become empowered and move toward recovery and wellness.

Our programs are grounded in the principles of personal responsibility; mutuality; reciprocity; respecting others' thoughts and beliefs as valid and important; growth beyond stigma, shame, and limits placed upon us; and creating and maintaining a strong, active voice and presence dedicated to social change. We believe by developing better relationships people feel valued, become empowered. and thereby move toward recovery.

At Stepping Stone and Next Step we believe that Peer Support is a bridge between life with mental illness and life with community. We know that Peer Support is effective. People can and do recover from mental illness. Our organization takes great pride in what we do.

Stepping Stone Drop-In Center Association (SSDICA) is far more than a place where people gather to talk and support one another and share experiential knowledge. The centers provide safe environments where people risk new behaviors by implementing and practicing new skills. In the safety of our nonjudgmental, non-critical, mutually respectful, tolerant peer support environment, members begin to shed the identity of "mental patient" through a shift in language and in "story." Where once people spoke about symptoms and illness, we now hear stories about challenging experiences and recovery. As the individual stories begin to change we see a natural shift in quality of life and meaningful community integration.

SSDICA is open six days a week and we provide Warmline coverage seven days a week. The ideals on which the programs were founded continue to provide the basis for motivation and training of our membership, staff, and the Board of Directors. Our Crisis Respite Program provides a non-medical alternative to psychiatric hospitalization for the entire state of New Hampshire. Stepping Stone has become nationally and internationally recognized as a successful consumer operated recovery model. All services are free to New Hampshire residents.