When Annette first entered a financial fraud peer support group, she was carrying more than financial loss.
She was carrying shame.
Isolation.
Confusion.
And the invisible weight so many fraud survivors experience after betrayal.
Today, Annette is a peer support facilitator with Give an Hour helping other survivors navigate the emotional aftermath of financial fraud with compassion, understanding, and lived experience.
But her journey began in a very different place.
“I was in the place when I first started her group, where I was so broken,” Annette shared.
Like many survivors, she initially struggled to talk openly about what had happened.
“That was my biggest thing,” she said. “The confidentiality of it. The shame behind it.”
For Annette, finding a space where she felt emotionally safe was essential.
“I want them to be able to come to a safe haven,” she said of the groups she now facilitates. “And feel comfortable there.”
That sense of emotional safety sits at the heart of Give an Hour’s peer support model.
Financial fraud is often discussed in practical terms, reports, reimbursements, identity theft, legal processes, but the emotional impact can be devastating. Survivors frequently describe symptoms associated with trauma: hypervigilance, anxiety, grief, shame, depression, self-blame, and profound isolation.
Peer support helps interrupt that isolation.
For Annette, hearing from others who understood the experience firsthand became life-changing.
“I found out about Give an Hour through one of the participants in my peer-to-peer group,” she explained.
At the time, she was searching for help but felt emotionally frozen.
“To be honest, I was stuck,” she said. “I was in such a stuck place that I didn’t even realize that I could just call my insurance.”
Like many survivors, the psychological impact of fraud made even basic next steps feel overwhelming.
“You just don’t know,” she said. “You’re so naive to what’s going on around you, just stuck and overwhelmed.”
What drew her to Give an Hour was not only access to support, but the organization’s trauma-informed and survivor-centered approach.
“One thing that drew me to join Give an Hour was that the facilitator was also a survivor,” Annette said while describing her early experience. “A lot of the facilitator sessions I had previously attended… they were more clinicians opposed to actual survivors.”
That distinction mattered.
There is something uniquely powerful about being witnessed by someone who truly understands the emotional terrain of fraud recovery, not theoretically, but personally.
Through Give an Hour’s peer support groups, Annette slowly began reconnecting with herself.
“I could just kind of see myself evolving,” she reflected.
At one point, her facilitator asked what she hoped to gain from the group.
“I said, ‘I just want my happy back.’”
Then came the moment she realized healing was beginning.
“One morning, I got up and looked in the mirror about six months later, and I noticed I was starting to smile a little bit.”
Not because the pain had disappeared, but because it represented something many survivors fear they may never feel again: hope.
“So between the groups,” she said, “I looked forward to them… I really did.”
Now, Annette helps create that same sense of hope and belonging for others.
As Give an Hour’s newest financial fraud facilitator, she understands the emotional courage it takes for someone to attend their very first meeting.
“I get a lot of first-timers,” she explained. “You don’t want to take a chance sharing your story with somebody, and they start blaming you, that’s why a lot of people join. They often can’t open up to their family and friends.”
Instead, she works intentionally to create a judgment-free space where survivors can speak openly without fear of shame.
“I don’t feel ashamed,” she said, “I want to show them that they can open up, you know, and there’s a feeling of safety, and of course, confidentiality.”
That survivor-to-survivor connection is a foundational part of Give an Hour’s approach to peer support.
The organization’s financial fraud peer support groups are designed to provide emotionally safe, trauma-informed spaces where survivors can connect with others who understand the unique psychological impact of fraud victimization.
For many participants, it may be the first place they realize they are not alone.
And while Annette acknowledges that facilitating can sometimes be emotionally heavy, the sense of purpose and connection continues to sustain her.
“To be honest with you, it can be kind of draining, because there is so much sadness,” she said. “And then the other thing is that you feel so helpless, because you really want to help people.”
But then come the moments that remind her why the work matters.
“It really does,” she said when asked whether helping others helps restore her own joy. “In fact, just yesterday after the meeting, I get an email from a member… and she basically said, in a nutshell, ‘Thank you, Annette, for keeping the group going.’”
That is the power of peer support.
Not fixing, but creating a space where people feel seen, believed, and understood long enough to begin healing.
For Annette, Give an Hour became more than a support group.
It became a pathway back to herself.
And now, through her own vulnerability and lived experience, she is helping others find their way back too.
Sometimes healing begins with something very small.
A conversation.
A safe space.
A group that understands.
Or the moment you look in the mirror and realize you found your smile again.
A voice among many
Stories like this don’t stand alone. They’re part of a larger movement toward more integrated, human-centered care.
Explore Twenty Years, Twenty Voices to see how this work is taking shape across communities. silence no longer serves you.
Visit GiveAnHour.org for more information & sign up for our newsletter at GiveAnHour.org/Newsletter. To sign up for Peer Support Groups, visit GiveAnHour.Org/ContactUs.
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