We work with first responder organizations — including police services, fire departments, paramedic services, and non-profits — to build, formalize, and sustain peer support programs with the clinical oversight that makes them safe, credible, and effective.
of Canadian public safety personnel screen positive for a mental disorder
more likely to seek help from a peer than from a clinician
paramedic suicide rate compared to the national average
"First responders are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. A properly structured peer support program — clinically supervised, built into daily operations, and trusted by the people it serves — is one of the most impactful investments an organization can make."
Who We Are
OSRC was founded by Dan Zamfir and Kelli Nicholson — two registered clinicians who have spent their careers working alongside first responders. We don't offer generic wellness programs. We build solutions that fit the specific culture, structure, and pace of emergency services work.
We have worked with police services, paramedic services, fire departments (career and volunteer), and community organizations — developing peer support structures, delivering critical incident debriefs, and providing clinical oversight that keeps programs running safely and sustainably.
Our Team
Two clinicians. A combined background in trauma therapy, peer program development, critical incident response, and direct first responder care.
How OSRC Came to Be
Dan and Kelli both spent years working closely with frontline workers across Niagara — in their clinical practices, in critical incident response, and in the quiet conversations that happen when someone finally decides to reach out. Over time, they kept seeing the same gap: first responder organizations with peer teams that were well-intentioned but under-supported, running without the clinical oversight, training, and structure they needed to actually work. The need for specialized clinicians to stand behind those teams — not to replace them, but to make them safer and more effective — was clear. OSRC was built to fill that gap.
Registered Psychotherapist
Henley Psychotherapy
Dan is a Registered Psychotherapist specializing in occupational trauma, post-critical incident care, and peer support program development. Alongside Kelli, he co-founded OSRC and serves as co-lead of the organization — overseeing clinical direction, peer team structure, protocol development, and training.
Dan has spent years working directly alongside first responders, and it was through that work — witnessing firsthand the gap between what organizations needed and what was available — that OSRC was born.
Registered Social Worker
Lifeline for the Frontline
Kelli is a Registered Social Worker with specialized expertise in first responder mental health. Alongside Dan, she co-founded OSRC and serves as co-lead of the organization — bringing clinical depth, individual therapy, and community-based follow-up support to the first responders and organizations they serve.
Kelli brings a deep understanding of what first responders actually need — and what gets in the way of them asking for it. Her work is rooted in direct clinical experience with frontline workers, and it was that shared experience that led her and Dan to build something neither had seen done well: specialized clinical support, built specifically for the peer teams and organizations that serve our communities.
Who We Work With
We work with first responder organizations — including police services, fire departments (career and volunteer), EMS services, and not-for-profits serving frontline workers. Our experience spans organizations of all sizes, from large municipal services to community-based agencies, and we tailor every engagement to the specific culture and needs of the organization we are working with.
Partners have included police services, fire departments, paramedic services, and community organizations across Ontario — and we continue to expand our reach.
What We Offer
We meet organizations wherever they are — whether starting from scratch, formalizing an existing team, or responding to a critical incident. Every engagement is tailored to your service's culture and structure.
We help organizations build and formalize peer support programs that work — starting with where you are, not where you wish you were. That includes assessing your current team, identifying gaps, designing a selection process, building out training pathways, and establishing the structure that makes a peer program sustainable beyond its first year.
A peer program that operates informally — without written protocols, clinical oversight, or a clear activation pathway — creates liability and fails the people it is meant to serve. We build programs that can be defended to leadership and trusted by staff.
A peer support program without clinical oversight is not a peer support program — it is an informal network with no safety net. OSRC provides registered clinician supervision for peer teams, including monthly consultation, case review, peer supporter wellbeing checks, and referral pathway management.
Our monthly retainer structure gives organizations predictable access to clinical expertise without the cost of a full-time hire. We are the back-end that keeps your peer team operating safely.
Following a critical incident — a line-of-duty death, a mass casualty event, or any call that leaves a mark — your team needs a structured, clinically facilitated debrief. OSRC provides ICISF-standard CISD facilitation with 24/7 availability for urgent response.
Why external CISD matters: It is strongly recommended that critical incident debriefs be facilitated by an external clinician, not by internal peer supporters or supervisors. An external facilitator removes the dynamic of rank, relationship, and organizational loyalty — allowing members to speak honestly and process fully. Internal facilitation, however well-intentioned, often limits what people are willing to say.
We deliver tailored workshops for organizations at every stage — from introductory mental health awareness sessions for frontline personnel to leadership-focused training on recognizing and supporting occupationally stressed staff.
Topics include stress management, resilience under chronic occupational exposure, vicarious trauma, the psychology of help-seeking in first responder culture, and managing the intersection of home and operational stress. Workshops are adapted to your service's specific incidents, culture, and needs.
PCIS is a multi-day immersive program for first responders carrying the accumulated weight of a career — and for the families that carry it with them. Developed through a specialized partnership, it addresses the cumulative trauma that peer support and individual therapy alone cannot fully reach.
PCIS is available to EMS services, police, and fire departments. Contact us to learn more about bringing this program to your organization.
Most peer programs fail not because of bad intentions, but because they lack the written infrastructure to function consistently. We help organizations develop the documents a peer program needs to operate professionally: confidentiality agreements, scope-of-practice definitions, activation protocols, referral pathways, and annual review frameworks.
These documents protect the organization, protect the peer supporters, and protect the people the program serves.
Get in Touch
Niagara Region, Ontario
Serving organizations across Canada
We respond to all inquiries within one business day. Initial consultations are always complimentary — we want to understand your organization before we talk about solutions.
If you are a first responder in crisis right now, please contact Crisis Services Canada at 1-833-456-4566, available 24/7.