Peer Support

Peer Support

An Exclusive Benefit for ASI Members

During this unprecedented era of rapid change and chaos in the world, much is being asked from spiritual leaders by the individuals and communities we serve. That's why prioritizing self-care and time to set aside your professional role and embrace openness and vulnerability is crucial for maintaining balance and connection.

The ASI listens to and understands the unique personal needs of our member community. That's why we've created peer support circles, a supportive environment focused on your personal rather than professional needs—a space for experiencing acceptance, receiving empathy, and sharing moments of joy, play, intimacy, and belonging—a safe place where authenticity, honesty, and vulnerability are welcomed.

Two successful pilot programs have taught us best practices and we are ready to share a distinctive experiential format that provides extraordinary benefits for participants.

Register early to enable us adequate time for proper group arrangement. Group size is intentionally small to ensure a comfortable and intimate experience.

Application Deadline: October 15, 2025

for Peer Support Circles starting the Week of October 27

Join the ASI

(if you are not already a member)

The Crucial Need

Deep listening, loving inquiry, honest feedback, and authentic sharing naturally encourage new and higher standards of integrity in spiritual leadership. In the experience of the ASI, unconscious misuse and abuse of power by spiritual leaders, teachers, and guides can be a consequence of not being sufficiently aware of personal needs and not knowing how to respond to them outside of one’s professional role(s).

Normalization

True spiritual leadership includes the courage to be supported. At ASI, we’re re-imagining what it means to lead—not in isolation, but in connection. When spiritual leaders come together in small, peer-based circles, something powerful happens: honesty deepens, humility grows, and integrity is strengthened. We envision a culture where peer support is not the exception, but the norm—a vital part of walking the path with clarity, care, and shared responsibility.

About Peer Support

A Peer Support Circle with the ASI is a confidential safe space where you leave your professional roles aside, drop defenses, and can speak from the heart with courageous vulnerability and honesty.

Every two weeks, for 90 minutes, you'll meet face-to-face online with your designated group of 3-5 fellow ASI members. Your Circle will convene 8 times in total. Each group includes a facilitator and a technician dedicated to supporting smooth experiences. You're invited to apply for either role, and the ASI provides short trainings that build on your existing skills. Peer Support Circles are not recorded.

Peer Support Circles are designed, through research to:

Fill a void for a safe and supportive listening space where spiritual leaders, teachers, and guides can share their full human selves.
Provide participants with a “container” that encourages and nurtures trust, openness, and authenticity.
Provide attendees with a dedicated place and time to shift to an inner focus of “being” and where one is free to reveal needs, desires, challenges, and feelings with colleagues who offer their presence in silence and give feedback only if requested.

Peer Support Circles offer you:

Opportunities for gaining personal insights and inner growth.
A micro-community where members support and witness each other with mutual respect, acceptance, and compassion.
The experience of belonging to an intimate community of peers.
A safe space for experiencing understanding, receiving empathy, and sharing moments of joy, play, intimacy, and belonging—a place where openness and vulnerability are welcomed.

If you are drawn to this type of connection and can commit to attending all eight circles, we’d love to have you join us.

Group Format: Every two weeks, for 90 minutes, you’ll meet face-to-face online with your designated group of 3-5 fellow ASI members. Your Circle will convene 8 times in total. Each group includes a facilitator and a technician dedicated to supporting smooth experiences. Peer Support Circles are not recorded.

Meeting Schedule: The exact schedule for each group is determined by a day and time that suits the majority of participants’ availability. After you register and your group placement is determined, the ASI will send you an email detailing the specific dates, days, and times (according to your time zone) your Peer Support Circle will meet, along with a Zoom meeting link.

We, as members of an ASI Peer Support Circle, pledge to uphold this Circle Covenant to the best of our abilities.

WE WILL:

CIRCLE PROTOCOLS

Attend every gathering except in the case of a genuine emergency.
Be on time and prepare inwardly a few minutes beforehand to be fully present by shifting from “doing” to “being.”
Participate from a quiet space, sober and free from distractions.
Take personal responsibility for ourselves and our experiences and self-regulate our thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

TRUST & SAFETY

Maintain the confidentiality of what is shared and the anonymity of all members.
Offer our respect, acceptance, compassion, and attuned presence when others are sharing.
Refrain from interrupting when others speak or engaging in private side conversations through chat.
Give feedback only when asked, kindly and without judgment, and accept only the feedback that resonates with you.

OPENNESS & VULNERABILITY

Leave our professional role(s) aside and share from our authentic human experience.
Keep the focus on our own experience when we speak.
Communicate from the heart with courageous vulnerability and honesty.
Share our needs, desires, challenges, and feelings only to the degree that we are comfortable.

ONLINE ETIQUETTE

Keep our mics muted unless we are speaking and silence our phones.
Turn our webcams on and ensure our faces are clearly visible.
Refrain from eating during gatherings.

During the winter of 2021 we began prototyping support groups lightly facilitated by peers skilled in group facilitation. Learnings gleaned from our first pilot heavily influenced the second. A report on both pilots is in a pdf at the end of this section.

Throughout the second pilot, participants were asked to provide feedback through online surveys, and one-on-one interviews were conducted with the facilitators of each of the peer support groups. Here are the key findings from the post-pilot survey, reflecting feedback from 27 participants:

Supportive Relationships: 78% of participants reported that their groups formed supportive relationships that were personally beneficial to them.
Self-Discovery: 78% of participants stated that they learned important things about themselves, including their strengths and challenges, from their group experience.
Learning from Others: 78% found value in listening to how others in the group approached their issues and challenges, learning from their experiences.
Support and Advice: 78% received valuable support and/or advice related to specific challenges they faced during the months of group meetings.
Practical Insights: 44% gained practical insights about the business or professional aspects of their spiritual leadership.
Broadened Perspectives: 78% appreciated hearing perspectives from spiritual leaders in other lineages and backgrounds.
Value of Peer Support: 81% developed a greater appreciation for the value of peer support for spiritual teachers and leaders in general.
Future Interest: 81% expressed interest in participating in a similar peer support group in the future.

Peer Support Pilot Key Findings

.pdf

Download PDF • 4.10MB

Additional Opportunities

If you have registered for a Peer Support Circle, you are also invited to apply to be a Facilitator for the group you are matched with. If your qualifications lead to selection by the ASI, you’ll be provided with training that builds on your existing skills and explains exactly what you’ll need to do for your Peer Support Circle. If you have any questions, contact peersupport@spiritual-integrity.org.

There are several Peer Support Circle Facilitator positions available. This is a volunteer opportunity that comes with benefits, detailed below.

Facilitator Role Summary:

As a facilitator, you will play a vital role in fostering a safe and supportive listening space for your Peer Support Circle. You will both lightly guide your group and actively participate in it. Every two weeks, for 90 minutes, you’ll meet face-to-face online with your designated group of 3-5 fellow ASI members including a technician who has a dual role of hosting the online platform and being a Circle participant. Your group will convene 8 times in total. Peer Support Circles are not recorded.

Responsibilities:

Establish a “container”—a structured yet nurturing confidential meeting environment that fosters deep trust, safety, and openness.
Cultivate a listening space where vulnerability, authenticity, honesty, laughter, and joy are encouraged.
Provide verbal feedback and empathy when requested after a participant shares.
Embody heart-centered leadership through modeling respect, acceptance, and compassion.
Provide guidance should an unfavorable group dynamic or conflict arise.

Personal Qualities:

Excellent Communicator: Expresses ideas clearly and compassionately to ensure understanding and positive interactions.
Strong Rapport Builder: Possesses excellent social skills and the ability to quickly establish trust and connection with individuals from diverse spiritual traditions.
Emotionally Intelligent: Has the capacity to effectively regulate personal emotions and remain grounded, even in challenging situations.
Adaptable and Resourceful: Can “think on your feet” and skillfully navigate unexpected happenings within the group.
Models Openness and Vulnerability: Is both comfortable and willing to engage authentically and honestly with others.
Empathetic Listener: Skillful in listening deeply, understanding perspectives, and offering supportive presence to others.

Qualifications:

Be a member of the Association for Spiritual Integrity.
Attend a facilitator training and a practice meeting.
Facilitate eight 90-minute meetings of your assigned Peer Support Circle. Meeting times are determined by member availability and participant screening for optimal group composition.
Possess a personal computer or laptop with HD webcam and secure high-speed internet connection.
Have some previous training or experience facilitating groups on an online video platform.
Be willing to pay the standard $90.00 USD Peer Support Circle participation fee.

Training Time Commitments:

Attend a 5.5 hour Peer Support Facilitator Training, held on Zoom.
Attend a 90-minute Peer Support Practice Meeting, held on Zoom.
(Optional) Attend a 90-minute Facilitator Support Meeting after the fourth peer support circle and again after the eighth peer support circle.

Benefits and Perks:

The deep satisfaction that comes with supporting your peers and contributing to their personal well-being.
Receive the ASI’s peer support circle facilitator training for free.
The ability to attend two facilitator support groups for free.
Build upon your existing strengths and facilitation experience to enhance your professional development.
Tremendous opportunities for personal insight and growth as a Peer Support Circle participant.
Minor time commitment, fitting around your existing schedule.

How to Apply:

You can apply to become a Peer Support Circle Facilitator after you have registered for a Peer Support Circle and indicated your interest in "Facilitator Training" by selecting that option on the registration form. The Facilitator application link will be sent to you in the Peer Support Circle registration confirmation email.

Technician Role Summary:

As a technician, you'll provide and manage the online meeting platform and participate as a member of your group. Your responsibilities include setting up the virtual space for each meeting and helping ensure equal speaking time for all members. Your group will convene 8 times in total. Meeting times are determined by member availability and participant screening for optimal group composition. Peer Support Circles are not recorded.

Qualifications:

Be a member of the Association for Spiritual Integrity.
Be registered as a member of a Peer Support Circle.
Provide and manage all technical aspects of running the online video platform for your Peer Support Circle. The group will use Zoom unless there is a compelling reason to use another platform.
Have an account with your chosen and appropriate platform.
Have significant experience and a high level of proficiency in operating this platform.
Possess a personal computer or laptop with HD webcam and secure high-speed internet.
Be willing to pay the standard $90.00 USD Peer Support Circle participation fee. This payment is due at the same time as the participants without a Technician or Facilitator role.

Responsibilities:

Provide a dedicated link that can be used for all eight meetings and email it to the Peer Support Coordinator for distribution to the Circle members.
Enable the facilitator as a co-host.
Enable a waiting room and allow only Circle participants to enter.
Play non-copyrighted music (provided) and display the Circle Covenant (provided) beginning 5 minutes before and 2 minutes into each meeting.
Mute participants’ microphones upon entry into the meeting.
Notify the participants about how much time they have to speak near the start of the Circle.
Keep time for each individual. When someone who is sharing is nearing the end of their allotted time, signal "two minutes" and "one minute" by raising your fingers, and gently intervene verbally if they exceed their time limit.

Training Time Commitments:

Attend a 90-minute Peer Support Technician Training, held on Zoom.
Be the Zoom technician for eight 90-minute meetings of your designated Peer Support Circle. Meeting times are largely determined by member availability.

Benefits:

The opportunity to serve your spiritual colleagues by helping them engage in peer support through providing a smooth technical experience during meetings.
Tremendous opportunities for personal insight and growth as a Peer Support Circle participant.
Minor time commitment, fitting around your existing schedule.

How to Apply:

You can apply to become a Peer Support Circle Technician after registering for a Peer Support Circle and indicating your interest in "Technician Training" by selecting that option on the registration form. The Technician application link will be sent to you in the Peer Support Circle registration confirmation email.