VALLEJO, Calif. — Three people gathered in a classroom on a recent rainy afternoon listened intently as Derrick Cordero urged them to turn their negative feelings around.
“What I’m hearing is that you’re a self-starter,” he told one participant, who had taken up gardening but yearned for a community with which to share the hobby.
Cordero, 48, is guiding the discussion at Holding Hope, a weekly therapy group for people struggling with mental health. Anyone receiving mental health services through Solano County can participate.
A former member, Cordero is now the group’s volunteer peer leader. He initially joined in 2020 while dealing with mental illness and substance use — and found that sharing with others who had been through similar trials could be deeply healing.
“Not all of us are going to speak about” pain, said Cordero, who is covered by Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, which insures low-income people. “But when one does, another does, and then next week another does, and it becomes like a connective tissue.”
These groups can offer essential support in a public system beset by workforce shortages, Cordero said. Two are run entirely by peer leaders, who help build trust by sharing personal experiences, said Cheryl Akoni, a marriage and family therapist who works for Solano County and leads Holding Hope alongside Cordero.
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VALLEJO, Calif. — Three people gathered in a classroom on a recent rainy afternoon listened intently as Derrick Cordero urged them to turn their negative feelings around.
“What I’m hearing is that you’re a self-starter,” he told one participant, who had taken up gardening but yearned for a community with which to share the hobby.
Cordero, 48, is guiding the discussion at Holding Hope, a weekly therapy group for people struggling with mental health. Anyone receiving mental health services through Solano County can participate.
A former member, Cordero is now the group’s volunteer peer leader. He initially joined in 2020 while dealing with mental illness and substance use — and found that sharing with others who had been through similar trials could be deeply healing.
“Not all of us are going to speak about” pain, said Cordero, who is covered by Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, which insures low-income people. “But when one does, another does, and then next week another does, and it becomes like a connective tissue.”
These groups can offer essential support in a public system beset by workforce shortages, Cordero said. Two are run entirely by peer leaders, who help build trust by sharing personal experiences, said Cheryl Akoni, a marriage and family therapist who works for Solano County and leads Holding Hope alongside Cordero.
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