At GPS Group Peer Support, we believe healthcare workers deserve support too. That belief led to the development of the GPS For Physician Assistants Curriculum, a trauma-informed peer support guide created specifically for PAs and the emotional realities they face in today’s healthcare environment.
The January–March 2026 MASStrong Implementation Partner report showcases how healthcare, behavioral health, recovery, and community organizations across Massachusetts are using MASStrong to strengthen staff support systems, expand GPS support groups, and build sustainable peer support infrastructure.
Research reflects what these clinicians already know. A 2022 study published in Home Healthcare Now found that more than 60 percent of home health nurses experience moderate to high levels of burnout, driven by workload intensity, emotional strain, and professional isolation. These are not marginal challenges; they are structural features of the job as it is currently designed.
Many participants shared that before joining GPS support groups, they rarely had structured opportunities to talk openly with colleagues about the emotional impact of their work. Unfortunately, this experience isn’t unusual. In many helping professions, the expectation is to stay composed and move on to the next task.
Recently, MASStrong partnered with New England Life Care (NELC) to offer a structured GPS support group for their home infusion nurses. Their responses to post-support group surveys tell a powerful story about what happens when caregivers are given space to slow down and connect.
By Liz Friedman, Co-Founder and CEO of GPS Group Peer Support Doulas —trained professionals who provide physical, emotional, and informational support before, during and shortly after childbirth— hold some of the most intimate, emotionally charged moments of a person’s life. They walk into labor and delivery rooms where joy, fear, trauma, power, and vulnerability collide,…
Across behavioral health, public health, homelessness services, recovery programs, and community-based care, frontline workers are carrying a level of emotional and structural strain that no training program ever prepared them for.
We talk often about burnout among clinicians, case managers, outreach workers, and direct service staff. But there’s a group we don’t talk about nearly enough: The supervisors who hold all of them.
Nursing is a profession built on care, and is one that often asks people to carry enormous emotional, ethical, and relational weight. For nurses navigating recovery from substance use disorder, that weight can be compounded by stigma, fear, and isolation.
When people work in recovery, peer support, and community care, they often spend their days holding space for others. But where do they go to pause, reflect, and be supported?
Recently, staff from Choice Recovery Coaching from Greenfield, MA came together for a focus group to share their experiences with GPS training and GPS support groups. What emerged was a powerful picture of connection, safety, and healing, not just for individuals in recovery, but for the people who support recovery every day.
Community health centers that serve Chinese and other immigrant communities sit at a powerful intersection of cultural identity, stigma, and care. The staff who work in these settings, like medical assistants, social workers, behavioral health clinicians, financial services staff, and others, are often members of the very communities they serve. They carry both the emotional weight of their roles and the cultural meanings attached to mental health, stress, and vulnerability.
