[Intentional peer support]

In this paper, we will describe the core themes behind the practice of Intentional Peer Support (IPS), offering a unique perspective on what has commonly been described as "mental illness" and the power dynamics inherent in traditional helping relationships. Through intentional conversations that explore "how we've come to know what we know" and challenge the naming of our experience by others, we begin to find new ways of understanding and responding to our own and other people's experiences. In addition, we emphasize the importance of mutuality in relationships. Both people share responsibility for the relationship, and no one is assumed to be the sole holder of "truth". Mutuality becomes harder but even more critical to practice when we begin to fear for "safety" of the other. It is our belief that as we practice IPS across all relationships in our lives, we can begin to tackle some of the complex ways in which language, roles, power and culture have contributed to our own sense of internalized oppression in any form.