Compeer, Inc., is an international, non-profit organization that seeks to help people overcome the effects of mental illness through the power of friendship. The founding Compeer program was established in Rochester, New York in 1973 by Bernice W. Skirboll. It is a volunteer-based program in which adult men and women volunteer to regularly spend time with an adult or youth who is receiving mental health services. The goal is to provide supportive friendships for people in mental-health care, typically as a complement to therapy, in order to help and support them on their journey of recovery from mental illness.