Peer Support

Life has an amazing tendency to fill our emotional cup. When this happens, it can seem as though there is a fire hose filling our cup instead of a gentle and manageable flow from the kitchen tap. Troubles at work, troubles at home, illnesses, friends in need, exposure to trauma and profound human adversity can rapidly fill the emotional cups of even the most resilient among us. Then, just when we believe that life has settled down and our coping mechanisms have stabilized our full cups…one last drop falls into the already full cup and our emotions overflow and make a mess of things. It happens every day in first responder agencies, the military and veterans communities across the country. Sometimes with tragic consequences. But, what if I were to tell you that there a straightforward way to prevent some of this? What if we had a model that helped prevent the overflowing cups from making a mess of things when that one last unexpected drop added to them?

Spoiler alert: we do.

Peer support and peer to peer counseling can be highly effective in managing low level troubles before they become acute. I’ll save those of you who may not be familiar a Google search and explain. A peer to peer counseling program utilizes employees who demonstrate an aptitude and interest to “counsel” (mostly listen to) other members of an organization. These peer counselors complete training, are certified and should be then supervised by someone with a higher level of training. In my case, I was blessed and exceptionally grateful to have a boss who is highly skilled and who was very patient with me when I began the peer support adventure. Peer counselors can be readily available and as they are embedded and hopefully trusted members of the organization already should be trusted. Both of those advantages make them well suited to serve within Warrior Servant servant professions.

There are multiple keys to any peer support program succeeding, but chief among them is absolute trust. In professions where our professional currency is built on a foundation of trust in our ability to perform under even the most difficult of circumstances, the stigma of being “troubled” can prevent warrior servants from getting the help they need. They worry about losing assignments, promotions, and so on. Add to that concern that many in the profession are lied to literally all the time (at least some days it can seem that way), absolute trust is the rebar that holds the foundation of any successful peer support program together. No one wants to share their troubles with someone they don’t trust. Especially a warrior servant. Programs can benefit from solid policy and well thought out laws to help with this issue. In my home state, we have Florida Statute 111.09 that helps solidify confidentiality.

Since my target audience includes members of professions who are by nature often suspicious and often view any effort at mental health with great trepidation, I’ll take a moment to chat about what peer support and peer counseling is and is not. Succinctly, it is not psychotherapy, it is not creating excuses for someone not to work, and it is not a covert way for management to collect information on its employees. It is a way for employees to unburden themselves to someone in their professional ecosystem and subsequently feel better. By doing so, the aim is to make the employee safer and more effective while doing an already difficult and dangerous job.

If your agency doesn’t have a peer support program, I urge you to look into starting one. If it does, don’t be shy about using it. Effectively dealing with the problems the warrior servant professions throw our way now can make the future a whole lot more pleasant. It may also prevent tragedy.

Stay safe.