I build the kind of programming that outlasts me.
Peer support infrastructure, community wellness programming, internship pipelines, feedback systems that people actually respond to — designed with the communities using them, and documented well enough that your staff can run them after I’m gone. I’ve done this at organizations from Pittsburgh to Portland, in agencies with real budget constraints and populations that traditional mental health services tend to miss.
Four ways to work together: a one-off consult on something you’re stuck on; co-designing a program from scratch; training your staff to facilitate something that already exists; or coming aboard in a more sustained way if the fit is right.
Let’s talk · counseling@moiraryan.com
Peer Support
SuPEERstars: A peer support skills workshop series
Ran as an open group for two years. Of 36 participants, 16 co-facilitated “Teach Us Your Recipe” workshops, 8 co-facilitated art workshops, and 5 went on to co-facilitate groups — two of whom designed and led their own, a drum circle and a chair ecstatic dance group. Four participants completed every segment and earned a certificate.
Most people who’ve been through hard things want to help others going through the same. SuPEERstars takes that instinct seriously — real listening skills, practiced self-disclosure, and the confidence that comes from learning alongside other people. Not therapy training. No clinical background required.
Free to download and use. If you want help facilitating it, adapting it for your population, or training staff to run it — reach out.
Download the workbook
The Listening Program: A person-centered drop-in support model
Seven listeners trained. The program has continued running three days a week during food pantry hours since October 2025, using the handbook as written.
A replicable framework for drop-in peer support that doesn’t require professional staff, doesn’t medicalize the people it serves, and builds community rather than managing it. The handbook covers setup, listener training, and how to handle the hard moments — written so an organization with modest resources can pick it up and run.
Program design
Community wellness programming at Central City Concern
Tripled weekly attendance. Produced a client art exhibition and a published cookbook.
I started as an occupational therapist’s assistant and turned the role into a community arts and wellness initiative — recruiting people with lived experience to lead and co-lead groups, and building peer leadership opportunities for clients who’d previously only been on the receiving end.
Cooking with Confidence
Developed through community-led “Teach Us Your Recipe” workshops, co-facilitated by 16 program participants.
A culturally diverse cookbook that’s not really about recipes — it’s experiential activities and invitations to share, built with and for folks at Central City Concern. Designed to live in community spaces, not on coffee tables.
Mobile counseling unit
Design brief.
A mobile counseling van sounds like a logistics problem. It’s actually a trust problem. This lays out a group-first outreach model where the therapeutic relationship starts well before anyone steps into the van alone — with protocols, staffing options, and activities meant to be adapted.
Organizational infrastructure
Internship starter pack
Adopted by two small group practices.
Starting an internship program from scratch feels like building a spaceship out of a box of screws and some duct tape. This is the template I developed through trial, error, and a lot of “I wish someone had told me that” — every essential document, plus an orientation guide and a pre/post survey. Swipe what works, tweak what doesn’t.
Steal this internship · orientation guide · pre/post survey
Counseling center satisfaction survey
Redesigned a low-response survey and built an annual client co-design process.
Most organizations collect client feedback. Fewer ask clients to help design the experience itself. This includes a three-item survey, an intern-led feedback process, and a full facilitation guide — prompts, logistics, and budget. Easy for new counselors to ask, easy for development teams to show funders exactly who the money reaches.
How I work
The best things I’ve made were built with communities, not handed to them. That means the people who’ll use a program help design it, the people with lived experience get paid roles and not just gratitude, and everything gets documented so your organization owns it outright. All of the above is free to download and adapt — take what ya need, leave the rest.
If that’s the kind of work you’re trying to do, I’d like to hear about it.
Let’s talk · counseling@moiraryan.com
