From a Source of Pain, His Strength Emerges

Queens Peer Counselor provides mental health care to those with similar struggles

High school can be a mixed bag for even the most well-adjusted student.

But, for Aidan Avery, who is on the autism spectrum, the teen experience had an added layer of stress and uncertainty.

He attended a specialized high school for students with different learning abilities and behavioral challenges in Richmond Hill, Queens. But, he didn’t have the experience that he hoped for.

“I appreciated the learning environment,” Aidan said. “But as far as the other kids, and making friends with them, that was triggering and traumatic. Whether I was angry at myself or angry at another student, even if the other student didn’t necessarily do anything to warrant it, out of frustration that I couldn’t communicate or be friends with them, I acted out.”  

During high school in 2009, after his parents noticed a change in his mood towards the negative, they enrolled him in behavioral health services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, where he received one-on-one therapy until he was 18.

“One-on-one counseling helped me process my thoughts and emotions carefully, and it gave me a platform to freely express myself and be heard,” he said.

After high school, Aidan enrolled in Queens College and earned his BA in Psychology in 2020.

Lacking direction and estranged from community, he found himself in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time of anxiety, fear, and isolation. Aidan began experiencing similar feelings to those he had in high school—namely, shame around his autism diagnosis.

He tapped back into his resources at Queens Hospital, and entered the Partial Hospitalization Program, where he attended outpatient group therapy sessions for six weeks. Soon after, his therapist connected him with Gita Enders, NYC Health + Hospitals Director of Peer Services, who was launching a Peer Academy that trains people with lived experience of mental health or substance use to become peer counselors.  

Peer counselors are an important and growing occupation in the behavioral health field, but the jobs are hard to fill. The Peer Academy is unique in that it includes the self-directed learning and classroom hours needed for State certifications to become a Certified Peer Specialist for mental health and a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate for substance use.

Aidan applied and was accepted into the inaugural cohort of the program. Here, he finally felt like he belonged.

“It felt like an actual tight knit family where you didn’t have to be ostracized,” he said. “For the first time in years, I actually felt respected and like I can be myself for a change.”

So far, the NYC Health + Hospitals Peer Academy has graduated 110 trainees, 40 of whom are currently working within the health system, and a few have already been promoted into higher Peer Counselor or Community Health Worker titles, Enders said.

After completing the program, Aidan was offered a job at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst as a Peer Counselor in the Peer Health Coach Program where he oversees group therapy workshops and one-on-one counseling to patients on inpatient psychiatry units.

Enders says Aidan is an outstanding Peer Counselor and was recently recognized as Employee of the Month in the Behavioral Health department at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. 

“Aidan initially seemed quiet and soft-spoken, but has come into his own offering groups on inpatient psychiatry units at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst,” she said.

“He is amazing with the participants, I have seen him listen patiently to an individual after his group has ended, and while he is vigilant about documentation and other responsibilities, patient care is always his first priority.”

For Aidan, the Peer Academy helped him use his past struggles to help others.

“Meeting other people who have similar experiences made me feel like it’s not just me who feels this way. It’s not just me who feels hopeless and doesn’t have a routine. There are others I could embark on this journey with,” he said.

To learn more about the Peer Academy, click here.

To learn more about the mental health services offered at NYC Health + Hospitals, click here.