FAQFAQ

Peerly connects people navigating a high risk or breast cancer diagnosis with a trained peer mentor who has been through something similar. It’s one-to-one support built on a real relationship with someone who gets it because they’ve lived it, alongside your medical care.

Yes, Peerly is free for anyone seeking support. We are a non-profit and we never want cost to stand between someone and the support they need.

Traditional support groups are wonderful for building community and reminding you that you’re not alone, but they often bring together people at very different stages, ages, and diagnoses. One-to-one peer support is different. We match you deliberately with someone whose experience closely mirrors your own, whether that’s your cancer type, treatment path, or life stage, so the connection feels relevant from day one. Because your mentorship relationship is set at your own pace, you are able to receive support outside of a set meeting schedule. Many people find real value in both, and one-to-one support is meant to complement group and clinical care, not replace it.

When you sign up, we ask about the things that tend to matter most: your diagnosis, where you are in treatment, your age and life stage, and what kind of support you’re looking for. We use that to pair you with a mentor whose experience closely mirrors your own, so the connection feels relevant from the very first conversation.

Peerly is an organization for those navigating a high risk or breast cancer diagnosis, regardless of gender.

For now, Peerly is focusing on breast cancer, but we recognize the value of peer mentorship across all cancer categories, and want to serve the larger cancer community in the future.

You can share Peerly with your community via joinpeerly.com, on Instagram @join.peerly, or by reaching out to us at hello@joinpeerly.com.

Instagramhello@joinpeerly.com

You can sign up to become a mentee using the “Find a Mentor” link on our website. You will be asked to complete an application form that allows us to capture relevant information about your experience, and your goals of mentorship. This will enable our team to make a thoughtful match with a mentor from our community based on common characteristics, including age, diagnosis, parental status, and treatment approaches. Once we have reviewed your application, you will be matched with a mentor.

Find a Mentor

Mentees can absolutely request specific criteria for their match. We encourage mentees to provide as much detail as they feel comfortable with in the application form, as this enables our team to make a compatible match from our community. It is important however to note that the Peerly community is continuing to grow, which may limit our ability to identify an available mentor that checks every box. We ask that you prioritize what is most important in your match, so we can work to provide the best possible experience.

When mentees and mentors apply to be a part of the Peerly community, we gather relevant information through our application forms to better understand each participant’s journey and experiences. Mentors complete a detailed vetting and onboarding process before they are eligible to be matched with a mentee. We carefully review every mentee application against our community to identify thoughtful matches for mentees. We aim to have matches within two business days, though we may reach out to you to confirm specific details before we introduce you to a mentor.

We aim to introduce most mentees to a mentor within two business days. Occasionally it may take longer if we’re looking for someone with very specific shared experiences. If that’s the case, we’ll keep you updated along the way.

No. Whether you’ve just been diagnosed, you’re in active treatment, you’re adjusting to life after, or you’re living with metastatic breast cancer, there’s a place for you here. We match based on where you actually are.

Mentors offer lived experience, a listening ear, and honest guidance from someone who has walked a similar path. What they don’t do is give medical, legal, or clinical advice. For anything about your diagnosis, treatment, or care decisions, your medical team is the right place to turn. Peerly is here to walk alongside that care, not replace it.

We believe there is something uniquely reassuring about talking to one person who has already walked a path remarkably similar to yours. While support groups and online communities can be incredibly valuable, a one-to-one relationship creates space for honest questions, practical guidance, and conversations that unfold over time. Our goal is to make that kind of connection accessible to everyone who wants it.

We will check in with you on a regular basis throughout your mentorship to see how things are progressing, and if you need any additional support. The timeline for mentorship will vary from match to match, as some mentees benefit from 1–2 conversations, and others would prefer to have ongoing conversations over many months. Matches will be considered active for 8 months, and we’ll connect with you around that time to confirm if you’d like to continue with your mentor, or if the mentorship has wrapped up.

Finding the right connection matters. If at any point you don’t feel your match is the right fit, let us know. We’ll work with you to understand what’s missing and do our best to find a mentor who better meets your needs.

However works best for you, whether that’s text, email, phone, or video. You and your mentor decide together what feels most comfortable.

It’s entirely up to you. Some people connect with their mentor often, others check in now and then. There’s no minimum commitment, and you can pause or step away at any time, no questions asked.

Every mentor is someone who has personally navigated a high risk or breast cancer journey and has been vetted and trained by the Peerly team.

We take your privacy seriously and handle your personal information carefully. Your conversations with your mentor are yours.

Peer support isn’t designed for emergencies. If you’re in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please reach out to your local emergency services or a crisis line right away. Your mentor cares about you, and the safest support in those moments comes from trained crisis professionals.

Yes, and many do. The only thing we ask is that you have had time to process your own experience first, and feel ready to hold space for someone else’s. If you are living with a metastatic diagnosis, you do not need to be finished with treatment to mentor someone.

Yes, the Peerly community is multi-lingual and we capture language information as a part of our mentor sign-up form. It is important to note that being bilingual is not a requirement to offer mentorship, so not all mentors can offer bilingual support. If you require support in another language, please make sure you note that in your application form so we can account for that in your match.

We always prioritize the characteristics that matter most to you. While we can’t promise an exact match in every case, we’ll be transparent about what’s available, and work with you to find someone whose experience will be genuinely helpful.

Yes you can. We have an incredible community of “previvors” who are high risk or carry the BRCA gene that we can connect you with.

Yes. Because mentorship happens remotely, Peerly supports people regardless of where they live.

Peerly does not currently offer support for caregivers and family members. We recognize that this journey touches many people, and want to offer this kind of peer support in the future.

Please reach out to us at hello@joinpeerly.com to discuss what you are specifically looking for, to see how we can accommodate.

hello@joinpeerly.com

You can sign up to become a mentor using the “Become a Mentor” link on our website. This will take you to our mentor application form, which allows us to collect key information about your journey and experiences. We encourage mentors to share as much information as they feel comfortable with, as this helps us better understand what kind of mentees you could be a thoughtful match for.

Become a Mentor

If you’ve navigated a high risk or breast cancer diagnosis yourself and feel ready to support someone earlier in their journey, you’re exactly who we’re looking for. You don’t need any professional or medical background, just lived experience and a willingness to listen.

We ask that you’re in a ready place emotionally to support someone else in their journey. For those navigating a metastatic diagnosis, you don’t need to be done with treatment to offer mentorship to others. What matters most is that you feel ready to hold space for someone else.

We are fortunate to have an incredible community of mentors who are passionate about giving back. To ensure we maintain a safe and inclusive community at Peerly, all mentors go through a vetting process prior to being matched with a mentee. This includes an application, identity verification, and screening with our co-founders before setting up their profile on Peerly and receiving training. We want to make sure that all of our mentors are ready and able to provide support before being connected with a mentee.

You will get an email confirming we have your application, usually straight away. We aim to review every application within 48 hours, and we will be in touch with what happens next.

You won’t be sent in unprepared. Every mentor receives training from the Peerly team before their first session. The goal is for you to feel confident and equipped before your first conversation. We encourage our mentors to reach out to us with any questions they may have, and update our training materials regularly as needed.

Most mentors spend an hour a week, though the frequency and volume will be based on what you decide on with your mentee. Mentors set their own availability, and this is communicated to the mentee in the initial introduction. You can schedule around your other life commitments as needed.

We usually start mentors with one mentee, to ensure they have sufficient time and space to support their match. It is important to us that our mentors have the bandwidth to focus on their match without being spread too thin. The maximum number of mentees a mentor can be assigned is three, though this is uncommon.

That’s a real and normal part of this work, and we take it seriously. Many mentors find that supporting someone else actually deepens their own healing, but your wellbeing comes first, and stepping back when you need to is always okay. You can reach out to the Peerly team at any time to pause your mentorship until you feel ready again.

You can pause, decline a match, or step away at any time, no questions asked. This is a commitment you shape around your own life. We want to ensure this is a positive experience for both mentee and mentor.

The sensitive details you share, including your story and background, are encrypted, so they can’t be read by anyone outside a small, authorized group on the Peerly team. In addition, every mentor also completes a secure identity-verification step when they join, so the community stays safe and trusted.

Yes, please email us at hello@joinpeerly.com and we will comply with all data deletion requests promptly.

hello@joinpeerly.com

Peer mentors complement clinical care, they don’t substitute for it. Mentors offer lived experience, emotional support, and practical insight from someone who has been through it. They do not give medical advice, interpret test results, or weigh in on treatment decisions. We’re explicit with mentors about this boundary, and we direct anyone with clinical questions back to their care team.

Peer support is a well-recognized complement to cancer care, associated in the research literature with reduced isolation, improved emotional wellbeing, and a stronger sense of being understood during treatment.

We’d love to talk. Reach out to hello@joinpeerly.com and we’ll set up a conversation to explore what a partnership could look like for your organization.

hello@joinpeerly.com