Heidi MacQuinn founded Proactive Peers with a simple but powerful belief: no one should have to face addiction, emotional struggles, or difficult seasons of life alone.
Through Proactive Peers, Heidi is committed to creating a welcoming and judgment-free environment where people can openly share their experiences, find support, and take meaningful steps toward positive change.
She understands that recovery is not always a straight path. Every person has a different story, different challenges, and different needs. That is why Proactive Peers focuses on meeting people where they are today while helping them build the confidence, awareness, and support they need for tomorrow.
Heidi’s approach centers around connection, honesty, compassion, accountability, and hope. She believes that addiction does not define a person and that difficult experiences do not have to determine their future.
Her vision for Proactive Peers is to build more than a support group it is to create a community where people feel seen, heard, respected, and supported as they work toward healing and personal growth.
“You don’t have to walk through it alone. We’re here to walk beside you.”
Heidi MacQuinn started Proactive Peers on a simple premise: no one should have to face addiction, trauma, or a difficult chapter of life without someone beside them.
She built the organization around five principles: connection, honesty, compassion, accountability, and hope and around one hard-won piece of knowledge: recovery isn't linear, and it isn't the same for any two people. That's why Proactive Peers meets people where they actually are, rather than where a program assumes they should be.
“You don't have to walk through it alone. We're here to walk beside you.”
Heidi MacQuinn
We keep our approach simple on purpose. Four ways to get support, each suited to a different kind of day
A judgment-free circle of peers who understand recovery from the inside, not from a textbook.
Structured group calls where you can speak as much or as little as you need to. No cameras, no pressure.
Monthly sessions with outside voices clinicians, authors, and people in long-term recovery bringing perspectives our regular groups don't always cover.
Private sessions for the conversations that need more room than a group setting allows.
Joining shouldn't require a form longer than the problem you're trying to solve. Here's what actually happens:
Call, email, or book a free 20-minute check-in. No commitment, no assessment just a conversation.
We'll point you toward the group or format that matches where you are right now, whether that's a single call or a recurring group.
Join your first session. Most members say the hardest part is showing up the first time; after that, it gets easier.
Healing after trauma isn't only about what happened; it's about what happens next. The LATERAL Program shifts the focus from what was lost to what's still possible.
We can't undo the past. Together, though, we can:
Loss doesn't erase your worth. In our experience, it's often the starting point for a different and sometimes stronger sense of who you are.
Our sessions aren't just open discussion. Each group draws from a set of practical tools, including:
Grounding techniques for moments when emotions feel too big to manage alone.
A structured way to identify triggers and build a concrete response plan before a crisis hits, not during one.
Short, repeatable practices members can use between sessions.
A guided exploration into the roots of addiction: where it began, what it was protecting you from, and who you are underneath it.
Work on the relationships strained or broken during active addiction, including the one with yourself.
Not sure which fits? Book a Free Call, and we'll help you figure it out.
A focused check-in when you need to talk something through. Good for a single hard day, not a long-term commitment.
Pay NowAccess to a guided peer group for one full session. Share, listen, and leave with more than you came in with
Pay NowFifteen-minute check-ins on a recurring basis, built for steady accountability rather than crisis moments.
Pay NowThis group comes together to discover ways to take large, overwhelming goals, and break them into smaller manageable parts.
Learning the art of compartmentalization together. Using sheep and color to identify discomfort in the body.
We come together in the spirit of self discovery. Weekly topics such as relationships, careers,, and newfound interests on the road to recovery.
. Physical pain controls our lives and shapes the Relationships with others.
This group is designed for people who experience trauma in recovery. Using a guided format, together, we create a plan that can be used in times of stress or anxiety. These tools are meant to help get us through the hard times.
How we use music in everyday life to boost our moods and express our emotions in recovery.
For family members supporting someone through detox.
On the role of honesty in changing behavior and sustaining recovery.
You don't need a plan before you reach out. You just need to reach out.
If you're in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911. We're a peer-support community, not an emergency service.
