5 Signs Your Department Needs a Peer Support Team

[00:00:00] Are there warning signs in your agency that you're missing? If you've ever thought we don't have a mental health problem, or our people are fine, this episode might be a wake up call today. I'm breaking down five red flags that show your department or organization needs a peer support team. And what can happen if you ignore them.

Welcome to Surviving Your Shift, your go-to resource for building strong peer support teams in high-stress professions. I'm your host, Bart Leger, board-certified in traumatic stress with over 25 years of experience supporting and training professionals in frontline and emergency roles, whether you're looking to start a peer support team, learn new skills.

Or bring training to your organization. This show will equip you with practical tools to save lives and careers.

I'm really glad you're [00:01:00] here for this episode, especially if you are a leader, a peer supporter, or just someone who cares deeply about the wellbeing of your crew. I've been doing peer support and crisis intervention work for a long time. I've worked with agencies that are thriving. Some that called me in after the wheels had already fallen off.

And let me tell you, the signs were usually there way before things became almost unbearable. But here's the thing. In high stress professions, we get used to hiding pain. We normalize burnout. We resort to Gallo's humor, and we say things like it's just part of the job. And while that might help us get through the shift, it doesn't help us heal.

We might get better tactically with time, but we limp along emotionally and just deal with it and that not so well. Ignoring the problem doesn't build a culture of trust, safety, and [00:02:00] wellness. That's where peer support comes in, but not every department sees the need until it's too late. We looked at what peer support is and what it isn't in the last episode, and if you're not that familiar with peer support, you may want to go back and listen to that episode.

The link will be in the show notes. Today we're talking about five warning signs. Your department needs a peer support team and what can happen if you wait too long to do something about it, and so we'll give you these signs as we go on. And the first sign, sign number one, is that people are struggling in silence.

This sign may be the most dangerous. You know your people are hurting, but no one's talking about it. You've had multiple tough calls back to back. There's been a suicide in the area, or maybe even in your own department. You're seeing the [00:03:00] stress, but nobody says a word. Silence. It doesn't mean everything's okay.

Silence often means people don't feel safe speaking up. And without a peer support team in place, who do they talk to? Hr, probably not a supervisor. Well, maybe a buddy if they're lucky. Peer support gives people a safe, trained, confidential space to process what they're going through with. Someone who gets it, someone who wears the same uniform, someone who does the same job, or as, uh, we might say someone who's walked a mile in their shoes.

And here's the risk. If you ignore this one, people will start to isolate. And isolation is one of the first steps toward burnout, broken relationships, substance misuse, and even ultimately potentially suicide. I interviewed JoAnn Kuritz, peer support team lead for the Harris County [00:04:00] Emergency Services district number five in the Houston, Texas area during a CISM training recently.

Here's JoAnn's response to the impact she's seen from departments that ignore the mental and the emotional toll that it takes on their lives. I would say you see a lot of burnout. You see a lot of turnover. And unfortunately you actually see some suicide if your people are quiet. But showing signs of where you need a team of trained peers who can be there for one another.

And here's the second sign. Number two, the good ones are leaving. You're losing great people, and no one can quite say why. They're not just retiring, they're transferring, changing careers, walking away, completely burned out. The next question I asked Joanne was from her perspective, what were some of the red flags that might tell you some of your [00:05:00] employees are struggling beneath the surface?

You'll see employees are, are asking for more time off or, or they're, they're disconnecting and some even actually quit. Sometimes they say it's about money or schedules, but often the deeper issue is a lack of support. They feel unseen, unheard like they're expected to carry the weight alone. A strong peer support team doesn't just catch people after the fact.

It helps them stay grounded before they hit that breaking point. You can't stop every resignation. Yeah, I get that. But you can absolutely reduce turnover by building a culture where people feel cared for, not just used. You might be thinking, but we have an e, a p. You know, it's not our fault if no one's using them or is it We need the professionals to be there for us.[00:06:00]

We also need someone in our department who understands our challenges and reaches out to us when they see signs of wear and tear. The numbers clearly tell us that your employees will more likely talk to a trained peer than a mental health professional. When people feel like their wellness matters, they tend to stay longer and they work better, and they serve with purpose.

If you're scratching your head wondering why morale is so low and why the people you want to keep are quietly leaving, then you probably need a peer support team and sign number three. Everything feels reactive. This one's really common. Your department only talks about mental health after a crisis. You know something big happens, a suicide, a line of duty, death, or a fatal accident, and suddenly everyone's scrambling.

You bring in a debriefing team, you hold a wellness seminar and you check the box. But what about the next day, [00:07:00] the next week, the next month? Reactive leadership means you're always behind. And when it comes to mental health support for first responders and medical professionals, being behind can be costly.

The Dayton Ohio Fire Department illustrates this well after a tornado, a school shooting a fatal crash and the suicide of a beloved firefighter, all within a short period, the department realized they had no proactive mental health strategy in place. A study on their experience concluded that many providers are left to deal with the chronic stress on their own, either because of a lack of employer-based programs, or a culture that discourages its use.

A peer support team, build a proactive support system. It helps people know where to go, who they can trust, and what's available before the crisis hits. You wouldn't run a fire scene or [00:08:00] an operation without a plan, so why approach mental wellness without one? If your department waits for tragedy to start the conversation, that's a red flag.

It's time to get ahead of it and sign number four. Stigma is still running the show now. The fourth sign is something we all know is out there. People are afraid to ask for help. They worry about being seen as weak. They worry about their captain or what their partner might think. They worry that going to a counselor or taking a mental health day could affect their career.

Retired first responder, Sonny Silva tells how his sister, a talented detective and domestic violence officer, developed a drinking problem. He encouraged her to seek help. But fear of losing her job kept her from doing so until alcoholism eventually took her life. And in [00:09:00] some places she wouldn't have been wrong.

It could have affected her career if she had reached out for help. The stigma is real. That's where peer support is powerful because starts from within. It's not some outside therapist who doesn't understand your world. It's someone who's worn the uniform, run the same calls, sat in the same parking lot after shift, crying in the dark.

Peer support starts breaking stigma by making mental health normal to talk about. It helps shift the culture from, suck it up to we've got your back. If people in your agency or organization are still suffering in silence because they don't trust the system. You need peer support embedded in your culture.

And then sign number five, you've got a team, but it's not working. This is the last one. You [00:10:00] technically have a peer support team, but no one uses it. Now, let me guess, you launched it two years ago with a training. You picked a few good people. You even printed flyers and put names on the bulletin board, but now it's crickets.

No one's calling. No one even remembers who's on the team, and worst of all, some team members aren't even sure what their role is anymore. If that sounds familiar, you don't need to start a peer support team. You need to rebuild it. That means possibly retraining team members with clear expectations, up their, their skillset again, or reengaging leadership to support the mission.

Leadership doesn't have to operate it. They don't have to run it, but the peers need to know that they have buy-in, uh, from the top. Then promoting it regularly so your people remember it exists. This should [00:11:00] always be top of mind. Always keep reminding people that it's available and checking in with the team regularly to keep them healthy, supported, and accountable.

Peer support team is not a set it and forget it kind of thing. It needs maintenance. Just like your gear, your instruments, and your vehicles. If you have a team but it's not making an impact, let's fix it. And then finally, what's the risk of doing nothing? Now let me be real with you for a moment. Ignoring these signs doesn't make the problem go away.

It just hides it until the next tragedy forces the conversation. By then, you've lost trust. You've probably lost people and maybe you've lost something that could have been prevented. I asked Joanne one last question. Knowing what you do about the risks associated with not building an effective peer support team, what would you tell other departments?

If they ask you, how do I know [00:12:00] it's time to start a peer support team? And this was her answer. The time is now. The time is now. If you're asking, then the time is now. You don't have to wait for someone to take their life to realize mental health matters. You don't have to wait for another funeral to say, maybe we should have done something.

You can do something now. If this episode hits close to home and you're realizing, yeah, we need something like this where I work, then let's talk. Go to stress care dot.com/consultation and schedule a free discovery call with me. I help organizations start. Or rebuild peer support teams that actually work.

If you're ready to make peer support a real part of your culture, not just a side project, I'd love to help you take the next step. And if you found this episode helpful, would you share it with a chief, a wellness coordinator, or a coworker? This link, along with [00:13:00] others, will also be in the show notes. We can't change what we ignore, but we can change what we face together.

Thanks for joining me today on surviving Your shift. We talked about five red flags that tell you when it's time to start or fix a peer support team. If any of those signs sound familiar, don't wait. The health of your team is worth it. Come back next time and we'll dig into how to start a peer support program that actually works.

Until then, God bless and have a great day.