Peer support. Music. Not a gimmick.
Swift Steps® is healing together, one era at a time. Founded and run by a Certified Peer Specialist, open to every pathway and built around the idea that belonging comes first.
What this is
And what it isn't.
Peer support, not treatment.
Founded and run by a Certified Peer Specialist with lived experience. Nobody here is your clinician, and we'll tell you when a clinician is who you need.
All pathways, one room.
Abstinence, moderation, harm reduction, medication, therapy, none of the above. Sober curious is enough.
Music is the way in.
Twelve eras give the year a shape. Each one is a feeling people in recovery already know by heart: courage, heartbreak, boundaries, grief.
Belonging is the point.
The app is open every day. Meetings happen every day. Listening counts. Nobody has to introduce themselves as anything.
What it looks like
A room, a couch, a crowd.
The loop
You don't graduate. You deepen.
When we finish era twelve we do not stop. We loop back to Debut. Recovery is not a line you cross. It is a circle you keep walking.
- 01DebutBeginning
- 02FearlessCourage
- 03Speak NowVoice
- 04RedHeartbreak
- 051989Identity
- 06reputationBoundaries
- 07LoverSelf compassion
- 08folklore & evermoreGrief
- 09MidnightsHonesty
- 10TTPDRenewal
- 11ShowgirlCelebration
After Showgirl, the path goes back to Debut. Same eras, a different you. See the full pathway →
Why it works
The evidence for peer support.
Swift Steps® is peer support with music as the way in. Both halves have a research record. Here's the honest version of it.
Lived experience helps people stay connected to care.
A systematic review from the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital found peer recovery support services showed positive results on reduced substance use and relapse, better relationships with providers, higher retention and greater satisfaction, while noting the studies varied in rigor.
Eddie et al., Frontiers in Psychology →The evidence has firmed up on engagement and retention.
The same team's updated review of 28 multi-group studies covering more than 12,000 people concluded peer support improves treatment engagement and retention, with early but not yet conclusive signs of better substance use outcomes.
Eddie et al., systematic review →Music based work moves the things that keep people in the room.
A systematic review of 40 studies found music therapy and music based interventions had beneficial effects on emotion, motivation, participation, locus of control and perceived helpfulness for people in treatment for substance use, with the caveat that results were inconsistent across studies.
Hohmann et al., PLOS ONE →The most careful review agrees, with limits.
A Cochrane review of music therapy for people with substance use disorders reports it can reduce depressive symptoms and increase motivation for treatment and readiness to change, while calling for more and longer studies. That's the right level of confidence, and it's why we say peer support, not treatment.
Ghetti et al., Cochrane Database →Swift Steps® is peer support and community. It is not therapy, treatment or a clinical trial, and it works alongside your care, not instead of it. Read the full science page →
How the rooms are run
The standards every meeting keeps.
- A crisis resource card (988, Crisis Text Line, SAMHSA, Philadelphia crisis and treatment lines) is posted at the start of every meeting and reverified quarterly.
- Facilitators escalate crises to the appropriate service. They do not manage them.
- No diagnosis, treatment, assessment or medical advice, ever, in any room or in the Mastermind app.
- All pathways. Abstinence is not required and nobody's day count is asked.
- What is shared in the room stays in the room. Speaker shares are recorded for the replay vault only with the speaker's consent. The share back is never recorded.
- No attendance is reported to anyone. If a member wants their provider to know they're coming, they say so themselves.
- Non alcoholic spirit and cocktail brands are never sponsored or shown on camera in a recovery meeting.
As featured in · The Philadelphia Inquirer · NBC10 Philadelphia · Philadelphia Today · Daily Mail · The Sober Curator
The people behind it
Founded by a peer. Held by an LLC.
Julianne Griffin, CPS
Certified Peer Specialist, in recovery since 2016, fifteen years running budgets for the City of Philadelphia and the author of The Sober Swiftie. She built the room she couldn't find.
Read her story →Blank Space Recovery LLC
The peer led recovery practice that owns Swift Steps® and Healing Through the Eras®. Mentoring, community, curriculum and program design for individuals and organizations.
About Blank Space Recovery →