What happens when you combine respect, mutuality, self determination, potential for change, genuine human relationships, and healing environments? Welcome to The Wildflower Alliance! In the words of Earl Miller, “it’s so basic that people think it’s profound.”

The Wildflower Alliance supports healing and empowerment for the broader community and people who have been impacted by psychiatric diagnosis, trauma, extreme states, homelessness, problems with substances and other life-interrupting challenges. They do this through peer to peer support and genuine human relationships, alternative healing practices, learning opportunities, and advocacy.

In this episode, Earl Miller, Director of Community Support and Matty Hollander, Hampden coordinator, come on the podcast to discuss their journey with this project. They share about the Alternatives to Suicide support group, the Peer Support Line, the Bowen center, the importance of autonomy and agency, the poverty industrial complex, and “a return to community that is accountable to you, that holds value in your existence. If you believe in community - that includes everyone.”

Bio: Earl Miller’s life and work are deeply shaped by his lived experience navigating the psychiatric and foster care systems from the age of 12, and facing homelessness, hospitalization, and trauma—part of which was featured in The New York Times Magazine in December 2024. Since joining the Wildflower Alliance in 2011, he has channeled his resilience into advocacy, community building, and creative expression as a storyteller, musician, and poet with several albums to his name. A proud father of two, Earl has held roles at the Center for Human Development and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and served as the inaugural Director of Amherst’s Community Responders for Equity, Safety, and Service, where he helped establish a municipal alternative to traditional policing. He now serves as Director of Community Supports at the Wildflower Alliance, championing anti-racist, humane, holistic, and community-based responses to emotional distress.

Bio: Mathew Hollander serves as the Hampden Coordinator for the Wildflower Alliance, a grassroots peer support organization. He is a Northampton-based artist whose practice includes intricate ink drawings and mixed media sculptures. He is a longtime performer and member of the punk/hardcore music scene in the greater Boston area.