SUNY Adirondack hires Peer-to-Peer veterans leader

Grant-funded program to support veterans to be led by Duers, a former Marine 

QUEENSBURY, New York (Nov. 1, 2022) — SUNY Adirondack is proud to announce the appointment of Jeremy Duers as coordinator of Adirondack Peer-to-Peer Support Services, A PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Project, a grant-funded effort to assist veterans in Warren and Washington counties. 

Duers is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who was a percussionist in the Marine Corps Band, the oldest professional musical organization in the United States. 

“I loved it,” Duers said. “We were a Marine unit who just happened to play music.” 

Duers was hired to lead the Peer-to-Peer program after SUNY Adirondack was awarded the contract in June. The program honors the memory of the late Joseph Patrick Dwyer, a Suffolk County native who returned from Iraq, struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and died from an overdose. 

Adirondack Peer-to-Peer program offers peer mentors, programming, fellowship and resources to support veterans of any era struggling with or at risk for PTSD, homelessness, suicide and other difficult transitions. 

“If I save one life or improve one veteran’s quality of life, it’ll be worth any effort I undertake,” said Duers, who was released from the Marine Corps for medical reasons. 

The grant includes funding for a small staff to help Duers host social gatherings, help veterans secure resources and build community among all those who served. “Veterans, we get a little weird, we’re strange,” Duers said. “The military programs you for the mission, and we are trying to provide an opportunity for these guys to re-acclimate, get a new job, get treatment or the services they earned and deserve.” 

With plans to offer group hikes, rafting and snow tubing trips, visits to such regional attractions as the Lake George Ice Castles, regular bowling nights and coffee meet-ups — and that’s just the beginning — Duers encourages all veterans and their families to participate. 

“The camaraderie we’re trying to develop, the sense of family, will be worthwhile,” he said. “Once we get everything up and running, we will make a tremendous impact on the area.” 

To learn more about the Peer-to-Peer Veterans’ Program at SUNY Adirondack, visit www.adkpeertopeer.org, email veteranspeertopeer@gmail.com or duersj@sunyacc.edu, or call 518-760-2056.