About OSRC
Two clinicians who stay with the teams they build.
OSRC is a partnership between two clinicians who build and sustain peer support programs for first responder organizations and the families behind them.
Our mission
We believe those who serve on the front lines are best positioned to support one another. First responders already carry each other through the hardest calls with strong, informal networks of support. Our mission is to formalize that strength: giving those natural systems the structure, training, and clinical backing they need to become lasting, trusted programs of care.
Our story
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 had peer teams that were well intentioned but under-supported, running without the clinical oversight, training, and structure they needed to actually work. Those teams needed specialized clinicians standing behind them, not to replace them, but to make them safer and more effective.
OSRC was built to fill that gap.
Our team
Meet Dan and Kelli
Dan Zamfir, B.Sc., M.Ed., RP
Registered Psychotherapist · Henley Psychotherapy
Dan Zamfir, B.Sc., M.Ed., is a Registered Psychotherapist (RP) who specializes in work with first responders and their families. Dan, alongside Kelli, is the founder of OSRC and works on the development, implementation, and clinical oversight of peer support programs.
Kelli Nicholson, MSW, RSW
Registered Social Worker · Lifeline for the Frontline
Kelli Nicholson, MSW, RSW, is a former police officer and trauma therapist specializing in first responder mental health, critical incident response, and the development and clinical oversight of peer support programs.
Dan and Kelli deliver jointly. Clinical oversight, consultation, critical incident debriefing, and training facilitation are shared between them, so a service is never dependent on a single practitioner for continuity of care.
Clear roles
What OSRC is, and is not
What we are
- An external clinical partner that sits outside the chain of command
- The clinical backing behind your peer team, for as long as the program runs
- A partner that builds programs your organization owns
- On site within 24 hours of a critical incident for partner organizations
What we are not
- A replacement for your peer team. The peer team belongs to your organization.
- A reporting channel to management
- A crisis line or emergency service
- A one-time training vendor that leaves after launch
Where we fit
A peer partnership, delivered as an ongoing service
Canadian research describes peer support for public safety personnel along two lines: who leads the program (external professionals, peers, or a partnership of both), and whether it is delivered once or as an ongoing service (Price et al., 2022).
OSRC is a peer partnership delivered as an ongoing service. Your peer team does the supporting. Two external clinicians carry the training, supervision, escalation, and critical incident response alongside them, continuously rather than once. That matches national practice standards, which call for peer supporters to be backed by clinicians who do not need to be full-time agency staff (Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2024).
References
- Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2024). Best practices and professional standards for peer support counseling programs for first responder agencies: Report to Congress 2024 (COPS R1176). U.S. Department of Justice. https://portal.cops.usdoj.gov/resourcecenter/content.ashx/cops-r1176-pub.pdf
- Price, J. A. B., Ogunade, A. O., Fletcher, A. J., Ricciardelli, R., Anderson, G. S., Cramm, H., & Carleton, R. N. (2022). Peer support for public safety personnel in Canada: Towards a typology. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(9), 5013. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095013