Our Story

Peer Support Space was created by Co-Founders Dandelion Hill and Yasmin Flasterstein. The two met while working at a mental health nonprofit, where they both led the creation and management of a program that was created in response to the Pulse tragedy to help provide free services to those affected while destigmatizing mental health in the LGBTQ+, Latinx and Black communities.

Dandelion has navigated their own obstacles to mental wellness as a survivor of domestic violence, childhood sexual assault, and suicidality. Yasmin is also inspired by her personal background which includes experience as a suicide survivor, and a person living with cPTSD and Dissociative Disorder. While they both share unique and personal stories, they both felt peer services kept them alive during their darkest moments struggling with suicidality.

Inspired by the power of lived experience, today, they share the challenges they have navigated with others to inspire hope and instill the belief that recovery is possible, that you can get well despite mental illness, despite difficult life circumstances.

Founded Feb 2019

Peer Support Space was founded as a peer-led organization, that exists outside of the current system, where we use our lived experience to support and hold space for one another as we navigate our unique journeys with life struggles, mental illness and/or substance misuse challenges, neurodivergence, disability, grief, trauma, or other obstacles to mental wellness.

Dandelion Hill, CRPS, NCPS, MSW

Dandelion (they/them) is a neurodivergent, Bisexual, nonbinary healer who is deeply rooted in providing compassionate care and challenging the oppressive system that comprises our current mental health infrastructure and psychiatric industrial complex. They have lived experience surviving domestic violence and childhood trauma that has offered a framework for their recovery work alongside other folks.

They are an Advisory Council member for Social Workers for Anti-Racist Educators and a Masters of Social Work graduate from the University of Central Florida.

While they are both Florida State Certified as Certified Recovery Peer Specialist and Nationally Certified Peer Specialist through Mental Health America, they acknowledge that these certifications aren’t necessary for one to be a good peer and that lived experience coupled with compassion, humility, and authenticity are more importantly at the foundation of all they do. At the end of the day, their degree and credentialing is merely another tool in their arsenal when speaking as a mediator between the current clinical infrastructure as an advocate for peers.

Ultimately, Dandelion is passionate about uplifting emotional justice and cultivating peer support resources that center lived experience and unique community needs.

Yasmin Flasterstein

Yasmin (she/they)'s lived experiences including living with neurodivergence, trauma, cPTSD, and Dissociative Disorder led her to be passionate about mental health, particularly within the LGBTQ+ and other historically underserved communities.

After bringing a UCF student mental health organization from 20 to over 200 members, Yasmin worked in the mental health response to Orlando's Pulse tragedy.

Yasmin serves as a member of the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness and as a part of the Orange County Mental and Behavioral Health System of Care Implementation Team. She has served as a Board Member for countless organizations including Peer Support Coalition of Florida, One Orlando Alliance, and Central Florida Cares Health System.

Yasmin has received countless recognitions including getting recognized as a Everyday Hero by News 13, 2019’s Most Remarkable People and LGBTQ+ Leaders of Tomorrow by Watermark and having her biography read into the congressional record for Women’s History Month. In her spare time, Yasmin enjoys dancing, singing, dark humor, making collages, and playing with her dog DeeDee.