Every year, thousands of young people return home from wilderness therapy and residential treatment programs — and most of them do it without a community waiting on the other side. Too many young people and families navigate the hardest transitions of their lives without anyone who truly gets it. The Peer Collaborative was built to change that. Co-founded by Dr. Tony Issenmann and Ciara Fanlo, The Peer Collaborative is a new peer support organization offering facilitated groups built around shared experience. With that spirit as its foundation, The Peer Collaborative is launching with two groups now enrolling, set to begin in May:
The Transition Home Collaborative is designed for young people returning home after wilderness therapy or residential treatment, with a parallel parent group running alongside. Participants join a community of peers who genuinely understand, with skilled facilitation and the continuity to keep their momentum alive.
The Adoption Journey Collaborative serves adoptive parents seeking clarity, connection, and a community that understands the unique challenges of adoption — including trauma-informed parenting and the emotional complexity that rarely gets talked about in everyday life.
A third collaborative, supporting college students navigating their first months of that transition, is coming soon. The Peer Collaborative operates on an open-enrollment model, meaning new members can join throughout the year rather than waiting for a set start date. Groups meet weekly for 60 to 90 minutes in cohorts of 8 to 10 members. Members begin with a three-month commitment — enough time to build the trust and consistency that make peer support meaningful — and are welcome to continue beyond that as long as the group remains a good fit.
Research consistently shows that community is one of the most powerful forces in recovery. The Peer Collaborative is putting that belief into practice — founded by two practitioners who spent years working in parallel before recognizing they were trying to solve the same problem.
Dr. Tony Issenmann, founder of Systemic Solutions Coaching — a practice dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of strong relationships within families, teams, and organizations — brings more than 20 years of experience as a therapist, trainer, speaker, and member of leadership teams. "In more than two decades of working with families in transition, the pattern is consistent: the people who do best are the ones with a community around them. The Peer Collaborative exists to make sure more people have that."
Ciara Fanlo, founder of Homing Instinct, a mentorship practice for teen girls and young women, came to this work through her own experience as a student at a wilderness therapy and therapeutic boarding school. For years, Fanlo has offered mentorship, coaching, and support groups for teens. "I know firsthand what it feels like to come home from treatment without a community on the other side. That experience is what drove me to build this. It is remarkable what can happen when people finally feel seen and supported by others who truly get it." The two originally connected over a shared recognition: that teens leaving treatment and the families supporting them needed more community, guidance, and integration support than the existing system provided—and they built The Peer Collaborative to address that need.
About Homing Instinct:
Homing Instinct offers individualized mentorship for teens, young adults, and their families, with a focus on emotional growth, self-trust, and meaningful connection. Designed for sensitive and deeply feeling adolescents who may not respond to traditional models, the program provides hands-on, relational support that fosters lasting change. By working closely with both young people and parents, Homing Instinct helps clients build resilience, strengthen relationships, and find a clearer sense of direction. www.hominginstinct.org