Our approach
Development. Sustainability. Family integration and PCIS.
Every OSRC program is built on the same three phases. They are sequential but overlapping: Phase 1 and the early elements of Phase 2 are in place within the first year, and Phase 3 grows as the team matures and trust in the program builds.
Why programs fade
A service trains a team, the team launches, and then the supporting structure quietly disappears. No written policy, no clinical backstop, no refresher cycle. Within a couple of years the program exists on paper only.
Our model is built to prevent that. The first phase builds the team properly. The second keeps it safe and working. The third carries the program home to families and opens the door to deeper care for members who need it.
Development
Establishing the peer team and the framework that governs it.
- Scoping. A discovery and leadership working session, a steering committee, and an internal peer support coordinator.
- Baseline. A confidential member survey so the program has a starting point to measure against.
- Recruitment and selection. Recruiting, vetting, and interviewing peer supporters across divisions, shifts, and ranks.
- Policy. A written peer support policy owned by your service, covering scope of practice, confidentiality, activation pathways, referral routes, and reporting structure.
- Activation protocol. A clear decision tree for when and how the peer team is activated after an individual request or a critical incident.
- Certification. Coordination of external certification through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF), including Critical Incident Stress Management and Psychological First Aid, along with evidence-based suicide intervention training. External training is delivered and billed by the certified providers.
- Peer team training. OSRC’s own training modules for the peer team, customized to the culture of your service.
A selected, trained peer team working under a written policy your organization owns.
Sustainability
The phase most programs skip, and the reason most programs fade.
Peer supporters are not clinicians and should never be asked to carry clinical risk alone. National practice standards state that peer supporters should be supported by behavioural health clinicians, because they are not trained as or intended to be therapists (Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2024). Phase 2 is that support.
- Critical incident response. When a critical incident happens, we are on site within 24 hours to support the members involved and the peers carrying them.
- Clinical consultation. Ongoing consultation for peer supporters when a conversation goes beyond peer scope.
- Monthly peer team meetings. Reviewing activity, surfacing concerns early, and checking in on the peers themselves.
- External debriefs. Critical Incident Stress Debriefings facilitated by a clinician, so peers never debrief their own crews. CISD is a structured, seven-phase group debrief designed for the days following a significant incident (Mitchell & Everly, 1996).
- Referral pathways. Keeping referral routes to community clinicians current and working.
- Refreshers. Scheduled refresher training so skills and role clarity do not erode.
- Evaluation. Follow-up surveys against the baseline and an annual program review with the steering committee.
A peer team that keeps working after year one, with clinical backup behind every hard conversation.
Family Integration and PCIS
Members do not leave the job at the door, and families absorb what comes through it.
- New member and family orientation. Introducing new members and their families to the realities of the job, the peer program, and where to turn for support.
- Family and partner workshops. Practical sessions on occupational stress, communication at home, and supporting someone who works on the front line.
- Wellness events. Connecting people to the program outside of crisis moments.
- Post Critical Incident Seminar (PCIS). A three to four day residential program for members still carrying the effects of a critical incident months or years later, with partners invited to attend. Learn about PCIS.
A program that reaches home, and a path to deeper care for the members who need more than a peer conversation.
Confidentiality
How confidentiality works
Members use a peer program when they trust where their words go. This is how it works in every OSRC program.
- The peer team is independent of management. Dan and Kelli do not report to management on cases.
- Peers may consult one another on cases, but not the whole department. The circle is small and closed.
- If a peer is concerned or stuck, they go to the peer team lead and/or to Dan and Kelli. That is consultation, not reporting.
- Peers keep no notes.
- Dan and Kelli may keep clinical records, stored according to Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA, 2004).
There are three legal duties to report, and they are duties, not judgment calls: risk of harm to self, risk of harm to others, and ongoing child abuse. If one of these ever applies, you will be told what is happening, and we will stay with you through it.
Ownership
The program stays yours.
The policy framework, the training records, and the peer team belong to your organization, documented and structured so your service can carry them internally over time. We are here to build capacity, not dependency.
References
- Mitchell, J. T., & Everly, G. S. (1996). Critical incident stress debriefing: An operations manual for the prevention of traumatic stress among emergency services and disaster workers (2nd ed.). Chevron Publishing.
- 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
- Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, S.O. 2004, c. 3, Sched. A.