Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the “hero” within us is revealed.
— BOB RILEY
Ron served as one of eight volunteers on his agency’s peer-support team at the fire department. He was always ready to assist when his fellow firefighters or paramedics approached him for advice, help, and assistance with work issues or personal problems. He did the greatest amount of good for his team, however, by keeping his eyes open and reaching out, trying to help his colleagues before they came to him.
Over a period of several weeks, Ron noticed that Jason, a firefighter colleague, didn’t seem to be quite his normal self. The usually friendly Jason was isolating himself and remaining very quiet. One morning after breakfast, Ron approached him and said, “How are you? You haven’t seemed yourself lately. Is everything all right?” Jason answered with a short “I’m fine.” Ron told him, “Okay, Jason, but I want you to know that I am here for you if there’s anything you want to talk about.” He gave him a pat on the arm and started to walk away, when Jason called him back, saying that actually there was something that had been bothering him.
Jason said his divorce would be final in another two weeks. He was having problems focusing at work and felt like he didn’t care about anything anymore. Ron asked Jason if he needed anything immediately, and Jason promised him that he would be fine. Ron assured him he was always there if he wanted to talk, and he also gave Jason contact information for the fire department’s counselor in case he ever needed it.
Over the next two weeks Ron checked in frequently with Jason, offered help, and called him from time to time on days off. He spent some time with Jason off-duty, helping him put up a fence at his house and just hanging out. One night Ron got a call at 2 AM from Jason, who sounded very depressed and said he needed to talk. Ron immediately got out of bed and met Jason at an all-night breakfast joint. There, he listened as Jason poured out his heart about his divorce and other personal problems.
Over the next week Ron noticed that Jason was starting to look and act more like his normal self. One day Jason came up to him and said, “Hey, I never really thanked you for looking out for me and meeting me that night. I would never tell anyone else this, but as I called you that night I was holding a gun in my other hand. I was ready to end it all, but when you agreed to see me, I thought I could just wait and see. I feel much better now — but I know I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t shown up that night. Thanks.”
A dedicated peer-support team member can have a dramatic impact on an employee’s morale. Peer-support team members are trusted, experienced colleagues (current or retired) who offer confidential assistance and guidance in times of stress and crisis. These teams are so effective because emergency-first-responder peers uniquely understand the stress and emotional problems of the profession. An active and respected peer-support team is a vital part of an overall wellness program for first responders.
Beginning in the 1950s, police agencies in New York, Boston, and Chicago began developing components of a peer-support program to address alcoholism and related issues within their departments. In 1968, the Los Angeles Police Department developed the first in-house behavioral science unit, which, in 1981, resulted in the nation’s first officially sanctioned, department-supported peer-support program. The International Association of Chiefs of Police currently endorses peer-support programs and provides general guidelines and operational standards for such programs. They have also endorsed critical-incident stress management training and debriefings, typically in conjunction with a mental health counselor. (See www.theiacp.org for more details.)
Over the decades, all the emergency-first-responder professions have clearly grown aware of the critical need to have a program of confidential and trusted support and assistance for their members, by their members. Given the fact that these emotionally, mentally, and spiritually challenging professions are closed and insulated, and that members have learned not to trust anyone “outside” their profession, first responders are uniquely receptive to assistance offered from an experienced and trusted peer, someone who understands their job, their frustrations, and their pain. Peer-support programs have consistently proven to be far more effective than reliance on individual officers to seek professional help on their own.
Peer supporters are not mental health counselors or therapists, but are trained, experienced, and trusted peers who provide an invaluable resource to colleagues by listening to them, supporting them, and assisting them in any way necessary. They help in countless ways by offering various forms of support and assistance to an employee (or to an employee’s family members) who may be suffering from cancer or any other serious illness, emotional distress, acute stress, symptoms of PTSD, job-related stress and problems, and any marital or family issues that could potentially cause problems at work or a personal or professional crisis. Peer supporters also help with critical-incident stress management debriefings and defusings and provide pre-crisis preparation through education that enhances coping skills and stress management. Basically, peer supporters provide any needed assistance on a confidential, nonjudgmental, and caring basis.
Not everyone within an agency can be an effective peer-support team member. Those who are selected must be acceptable to all employees throughout the agency, including civilian employees. Far too often dispatchers and other civilian employees, who can suffer just as much as any first responder, are neglected. These employees need peer support as much as anyone else. Peer-support team members must be experienced, must have excellent interpersonal and listening skills, and must have earned the trust and confidence of their peers and superiors on the job. They must be approachable, and they should both have and project a positive, caring, and empathetic attitude. A team member who lacks these qualities can potentially have a devastating and demoralizing effect on the peer-support program. There should be a process for the careful selection of team members, as well as a process for eliminating anyone who does not work out.
It is an unfortunate fact that gossip, backbiting, rumors, and hazing within first-responder communities are commonplace — and extremely detrimental to morale. Peer supporters need to play a role in calling attention to and dismissing this sort of behavior, which will otherwise have a debilitating effect on the entire agency.
The most important job of an effective peer-support team member is to listen. A peer supporter asks questions and possibly talks about his or her own related experiences that may be helpful, as opposed to giving advice or telling someone what to do. They are always nonjudgmental, and their prime concern is always the well-being of their coworkers. A peer supporter will typically ask how a coworker is doing, whether they need anything, or what can be done to help. Often, just having a peer to talk with in a confidential setting can significantly help the employee process the problem more positively, because he or she is relating to a coworker who has likely experienced similar circumstances.
Peer-support teams can be created and maintained with little or no expense. Though it is recommended that team members go through some training regarding critical-incident stress management, trauma intervention, problem solving most of the training takes place on the job. That is, it will come from the varied experiences of team members themselves during monthly meetings. There are also professionals within each community who may be willing to donate time to provide stress-management and related training. Chaplains typically provide free training, too, on such matters as grieving, assisting and supporting others, and other topics. In fact, an integral component of a peer-support team should be a chaplain program. (Chaplain programs are discussed in chapter 9.)
An effective peer-support team serves the agency in the following ways:
1. Convey trustworthiness and confidentiality to employees who seek assistance from the peer-support program or who may be referred by another concerned employee.
2. Attend peer-support training and periodic — usually monthly — meetings.
3. Provide assistance and support to both civilian and sworn employees as needed.
4. Assist employees by referring them to the appropriate resource (professional or otherwise) when necessary, as the employee wishes.
5. Listen, offer support, and reach out to peers to connect with them and ensure they are doing all right; offer any assistance that may be requested.
6. Agree to be contacted, and if necessary, respond at any hour to assist an employee.
7. Coordinate employee and family events, picnics, and other activities to build a well-rounded family support system for the agency’s employees.
8. Listen and talk with an employee after a critical incident or crisis, or during any time of emotional distress.
9. Provide information on resources available, such as the Employee Assistance Program, Alcoholics Anonymous or other substance abuse programs, credit and financial counseling, chaplain services, and other professional services.
10. Conduct or assist in critical-incident stress management defusings (for relatively immediate decompression after a less serious incident). This is a three-phase, structured, small-group discussion provided within hours of a crisis for purposes of assessment, triaging, and acute-symptom mitigation. (See page 89.)
11. Conduct critical-incident stress management debriefings (for more serious critical incidents, such as a shooting), in conjunction with a qualified therapist acting as the facilitator. (See page 89.)
12. Provide proactive training, information, and other resources to employees throughout the agency to help them learn to become more effective at processing stress, trauma, and other adverse effects of the job.
13. Provide ongoing emotional-survival training, suicide awareness and prevention, and wellness training and information for the agency.
14. Make monthly visits to roll calls/lineup trainings. The more visible the peer supporters are, and the more they discuss how they can be useful, the more they will be utilized.
The peer-support team leader should identify appropriate ongoing training for peer-support members. Relevant introductory and continuing training for team members could cover the following topics:
• Confidentiality
• Role conflict
• Limits and liability
• Ethical issues
• Communication facilitation and listening skills
• Nonverbal communication
• Problem assessment
• Problem-solving skills
• Cross-cultural issues
• Psychological trauma and coping methods
• Stress management
• Burnout
• Domestic violence
• Suicide assessment
• Crisis management
• Trauma intervention
• Alcohol and substance abuse
• When to seek mental health consultation and referral information
• Critical-incident stress management and debriefings
• Emotional-survival training
Initially, anyone who wants to initiate a peer-support program must gain the support of the chief or agency head and management, since support from top management is essential for an effective and lasting peer-support program. There are volumes of research available that convey the need for and the multiple benefits of such a program for emergency first responders. That, coupled with the overwhelming evidence of the significant emotional and psychological trauma prevalent throughout first-responder professions, should make the need for such a beneficial program evident.
Those interested in establishing a peer-support program should initiate a steering committee to begin the process. The steering committee should be made up of dedicated and trusted peers who are passionate about the well-being of their colleagues. Money should not be an issue in establishing the program, since training can be solicited from professionals in the community, as well as from other team members. If professionals are not available and there are no funds for training, simply having a dedicated team of peers who are devoted to the wellness of their colleagues, and who meet regularly and learn from each other’s experiences, is extremely beneficial to the organization.
The team should be governed by a written policy, department instructions, a manual, or other established rules and regulations that provide the operating guidelines for the peer-support program. Creating such guidelines is the primary function of the steering committee. This written policy should delineate the purpose, mission, and role of the peer-support team. It should further delineate the selection process, the desired qualities or amount of experience sought in prospective team members, the method and reasons for removing a team member, the training required for team members, the chain of command, confidentiality guidelines, and a list of incidents requiring a peer-support response. (Please see the end of this chapter for links to helpful resources.)
The chain of command for the peer-support team (the team leader and the wellness coordinator in charge of the peer-support team) works best if it is a direct link to the agency head in order to maintain confidentiality and to have an effective way for several sworn and nonsworn personnel from various commands to answer to the same command pertaining to peer-support issues. This keeps confidential information private from supervisors of employees who are experiencing personal or professional issues. The most effective way to organize the chain of command is to have all peer-support team members answer directly to a team leader, who in turn answers to a wellness-program coordinator. The coordinator answers directly to the agency head.
The selection of peer-support team members must be taken seriously. There should be a recommendation and testing process in order to ensure that the most interested, most trusted, and most experienced and effective people are selected.
Confidentiality is the cornerstone of an effective peer-support program. Department policy on confidentiality, as outlined in the written guidelines, must be strictly enforced. These rules and guidelines concerning confidentiality should follow the laws of your state. One breach of trust can destroy any peer-support program. However, there are legally sanctioned times when confidentiality must be broken: disclosures of child abuse, elder abuse, or domestic violence; criminal threats; or when suicide is threatened.
Depending upon case law and statute, under very limited circumstances a peer supporter can be ordered to disclose information pertaining to a serious internal affairs investigation. (However, a chaplain is prohibited by law from disclosing any such information in all circumstances.) A peer-support team member can avoid ever being in this situation by not discussing criminal behavior or policy violations with a coworker. In such circumstances, the peer supporter is there to provide whatever help or assistance may be useful, not to listen to criminal or agency violation disclosures.
Once a peer-support team has been established and written guidelines and policy have been approved by department management, the team must work to become accepted throughout the agency. Team members can help this process along by providing information about what the peer-support team is and how team members can be a resource to all employees.
Team members should meet regularly, usually monthly, to debrief and discuss peer-support situations, conduct training, and discuss ways of providing resources and assistance to employees in need. Meetings need to be meaningful.
The value of a peer-support team cannot be overstated. Providing a means for employees to support, assist, and help each other is the best mechanism to ensure a healthy organization. A peer-support team is an essential pillar of support for the emotional and spiritual survival and wellness of emergency first responders.
La Mesa police officer Tim Purdy discusses the critical importance of the peer-support team that aided him after he was involved in a fatal shooting:
I know that having a peer-support team is not something that should just be considered or something that “maybe we should do.” It should definitely be something that every first-responder agency has. In my opinion, it’s not clear how an agency can function and keep its officers healthy without one. I can tell you from my personal experience that if it weren’t for our peer-support team and the BeSTOW philosophy at La Mesa Police, then most likely — I can’t say this with 100 percent certainty, but I can tell you that I am fairly sure — I would not be here. I probably would not be married, and I would definitely not be a police officer anymore. Officer wellness is something that I am passionate about now, and I can’t say enough about the critical importance of having a peer-support team.
The period after my shooting was very difficult for me and my family. I had to take a six-week leave of absence. At times I felt guilty about not coming back to work, and I had problems just dealing with everyday life. The peer-support team was there for me through it all. When you have that kind of support, which you don’t even have to ask for — it’s just automatically there for you — it’s almost like an angel in disguise. I can’t stress that enough. For me, the best thing was being able to talk about the incident, having people who understood and actually cared — not only my family but also everyone here at the police department, from the top down. They basically saved my life and saved my career.
Fire captain Dave Hardenburger discusses the crucial importance a peer-support critical-incident debriefing can have:
Occasionally we’ll have members of the community come straight to the fire station for help instead of calling 911. Usually it’s because they are on their way to the hospital and the situation suddenly gets worse. Needless to say, when someone rings the doorbell for “walk-in” medical aid, it’s usually serious.
As my colleagues and I were enjoying a relatively slow morning on a very warm San Diego day, we were surprised by one of these walk-ins. As it turned out, this was the worst we had ever experienced. A hysterical young mother had brought two toddlers to the fire station because of a possible drowning. She was kicking the firehouse door as she screamed, holding both her lifeless babies, one under each arm.
Performing CPR on one child is disturbing enough, but at this moment we were faced with trying to restore life to two toddlers: a brother and sister, both still in diapers. For those who don’t know, doing CPR on a person is intense and emotional; it’s a thousand times worse when you’re dealing with children. And another thousand times more intense when you have kids at home around the same age.
When paramedics arrived they could hear the screams of the frantic mother over the sound of their rig’s engine. Rescuers frantically did everything they could with both of the lifeless kids, assisting with airway management, CPR, medication delivery — everything in a desperate and ultimately futile attempt to bring them back to life.
In the background, during the frantic commotion, were two unmistakable and incredibly hard-to-shake sounds — the screams of a desperate mom slowly realizing her two babies were dead and the frantic voice of our most experienced captain. Both sent chills down my neck, because I could only imagine the feelings of the mother, and I recognized the near panic of an extremely experienced supervisor. For some reason, the mixture of those blood-curdling sounds continued to echo in my ears long after the lifeless toddlers were taken to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
It’s hard to explain why certain things stick in your mind, or why they can affect you so dramatically. When it happens, there’s no mistaking it. The shrill screams of that mother’s helpless voice will haunt me for a while, as will the unforgettable sight of those sweet, innocent babies — limp, cold, and lifeless — while the best-trained rescuers hopelessly worked on them. But even more disturbing for me was the fact that one of our bravest, most experienced, and most respected captains was so shaken that day. I witnessed a terrible event that showed that the very best among us is vulnerable. I kept wondering, how vulnerable was I? And the rest of my colleagues?
We are all desperately vulnerable to being shaken and to suffering emotionally from just doing our jobs. Our jobs deal with life and death, often affecting our own emotional well-being. It made me remember that we, as first responders, are all just human beings with emotions, worries, and fears who have an unquenchable desire to save everyone…and that sometimes we fail. When we fail, someone else doesn’t get to see their baby, their mother, their spouse, ever again.
Later that day, the peer-support team held a defusing for all the medics, dispatchers, and fire personnel involved. It was a tremendously beneficial thing to do, because it gave us all a chance to hear from each other and to start to process the terrible event we had just experienced. A lot of people, including myself, would have struggled much more had the peer-support team not been there to help us through it.
Since many of the rescuers continued to show obvious signs of being bothered, one week later the peer-support team conducted a more detailed debriefing of the incident. I cannot stress enough how beneficial that was for everyone. It was a crucial link that enabled us to more effectively process what happened and how we were affected, and to move forward.
What is your motivation for your life and why you work? What is your motivation for being married or otherwise joining with a life partner, for being a parent, or for doing anything? Are you motivated primarily by your heart? Is your motivation selfless? Is your motivation conducive to a peaceful, happy, and contented life?
Our reasons for doing anything reflect our hearts, our wellness, and our sense of purpose. By examining what truly motivates us, we can work to improve how we spend our time, how we conduct our relationships, and our effect on others. Offering yourself for service as a peer-support person or in any other capacity in order to be of positive use to others is one of the best things you can do to nurture your spirit.
You can find several sample peer-support program policies on the California Peer Support Association website at www.californiapeersupport.org. The International Association of Chiefs of Police and Police Chief Magazine offer additional peer-support guidelines and information at www.policechiefmagazine.org (enter “peer support guidelines” in the website search box).