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Are you confused about what a peer supporter is supposed to do? I get it. I remember when I first started out, I was pretty clueless. Even if you have those in your organization who want to help, they may be unsure of what's involved in being a peer supporter. So today, what we're going to do is unpack the real day-to-day role of a peer supporter and, I hope, get some healthy boundaries to make sure your team stays effective as they support your greatest asset, your people.
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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.
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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.
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Today's episode is one I think every department needs to hear, especially those of you building or serving on a peer support team. This is something that comes up all the time. What exactly do peer supporters do?
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This is especially true for those who've never had a peer support team. Knowing what they do is important, but I believe equally important is to understand what they don't do.
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This is where a lot of well-meaning people get stuck.
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I've seen departments launch a peer support team with the best of intentions, but no one really defines the role. So, supporters start guessing. They don't know what to do and sometimes end up doing nothing, and sometimes they end up acting like therapists, and still others do too little because they're afraid of crossing a line. And then there's the group that burns out fast because they're carrying more than they were ever meant to hold. Let's clear it up. Peer supporters play an important role, but that role needs to be defined. Part of that means setting clear boundaries. Boundaries keep your team healthy, and healthy teams have the potential to be way more effective than if everyone did their own thing. Let's start with what a peer supporter is. A peer supporter is someone trained to offer emotional, psychological, and practical support to their co-workers, colleagues, or peers. They come alongside someone who's struggling. You're probably more familiar with a crisis intervention peer supporter.
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That's someone who's been trained in some form of psychological first aid. Most common among first responders and other high-stress occupations is critical incident stress management, or CISM for short. This is someone who comes alongside a person or a team who has just experienced some type of critical incident. What they do is they offer presence, and they offer connection. Another human being who wears the same uniform and has similar lived experience, they validate their experience and normalize their stress response. And what they do is they provide a listening, non-judgmental presence. And with additional specialized training, a peer supporter could also be there for those experiencing life stress, burnout, or possibly even organizational stress. They're not coming in with a clipboard, they're not offering a diagnosis, and they're not trying to fix anyone. They're showing up and saying, you're not alone in this.
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I'm here, and I understand. And that I understand part, that's the secret sauce of peer support.
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It's a shared experience. You've walked similar roads. You get the job, and it stresses. You're part of the culture. And you don't need a degree to relate.
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You need empathy. I was getting ready to say sympathy. That's something totally different. You need empathy and the emotional capacity to be present. And most importantly, you need to be trusted. A peer supporter needs to be someone that's already trusted and is a safe person to talk to. Nothing will ever get back to leadership. That is super important. It's always amazing to see someone's shoulders relax a bit when I let them know they're not weak. Or as they would sometimes say, they're not cut out for the job because they were having a difficult time, maybe after doing CPR on a three-year-old unsuccessfully, who drowned in the family pool. Well, that's to be expected. If it doesn't affect you, well, maybe you're not cut out for the job because you are too much like a robot.
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Or sometimes I've heard from people who maybe just pulled out lifeless bodies of an entire family out of a burning house.
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And it has literally rocked their world. That is not uncommon. Peer support is sometimes called para-counseling or peer para-counseling. And I like that term because it helps draw a line. You're not doing therapy. You're operating alongside clinical care, not replacing it. In fact, one of your main roles as a peer supporter is to recognize when someone might need more help than you can offer and gently help them take that next step toward professional help. So let's talk now about what peer supporters actually do on a daily or a weekly basis. First, they check in. A big part of peer support is being proactive.
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You don't just wait for someone to come to you. You notice. You pay attention. You know your people. And when something seems off, you're willing to reach out.
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That might look like a simple, hey, you're doing okay after that call? Or, I noticed you seem a little quiet lately. Want to talk? these small interactions often open the door to deeper conversations. Second, a peer supporter will listen.
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Like, really listen. This is where training makes a difference. You're not just nodding while someone vents.
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You're engaging with care.
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You're reflecting what they're saying, validating their experience, and making space for them to feel heard. Sometimes, that's the most healing part of the whole process. Just being heard without judgment or advice.
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Thirdly, peer supporters normalize. They help people understand what they're feeling isn't weird. That they're not weak or broken. They're human.
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It's part of being in a high-stress occupation. You're not giving them excuses. You're helping them see that they're not alone or crazy for feeling the way they do. I've literally had tough, experienced first responders look me in the eye and ask if they were going crazy.
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And I was able to look back at them and say, what you're experiencing is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. You're not going crazy. And that was so huge for them. And fourthly, peer supporters connect. This might mean helping someone find a counselor, a chaplain, or maybe a support group. Maybe it's pointing them to the Employee Assistance Program, to EAP, or even just offering to go with them to that first appointment.
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You're not the solution. You're the bridge to it. You walk with them far enough to get them the help that they need. And then fifth, you may meet together with your team to support a group of peers who have been through a tough call together.
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You help through a group process called group crisis intervention.
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This is the heart of CISM, or Critical Incident Stress Management. This evidence-based process was first introduced by Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in the 1980s.
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ACISF now offers over 50 different courses ranging from Individual and Group Crisis Intervention, Suicide Intervention, Animal Assisted Interventions, Corporate Crisis Response, Grief, Grief After Trauma, School Crisis, Disaster Response, and Spiritual First Aid, among others. And another thing peer supporters do is follow-up. One of the biggest differences between a program that works and one that doesn't is follow-up. A quick check-in a few days or weeks later shows the person they weren't just a case or a checkbox. It says, I still care, and you still matter.
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And that's the heart of what peer supporters do. Now let's talk about what peer supporters don't do. Because this is where many people get into trouble.
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First, a peer supporter is not a therapist. I know I mentioned that before, but unless you are a licensed clinician, and even then, you're not acting as one when you are in a peer role or when you're doing crisis intervention. You're not offering therapy. You're not diagnosing, treating, or creating a care Again, you're simply offering support, not treatment. Secondly, you're not their savior. You're not responsible for fixing anyone. A peer supporter's primary goal is to mitigate a person's stress response, normalize their reactions, and help them return to adaptive functioning. I like to tell people, if you send me someone who's broken, I'll send you back someone who's broken. I don't mean that to sound uncaring. It simply means we're not there to fix someone's problems or make everything go away. That pressure will crush you. Too many peer supporters take on too much responsibility.
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Peer support is about walking with, not fixing someone. And third, you're not a gossip line.
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What someone shares with you as a peer supporter in confidence stays there, unless there's a clear safety concern. If someone hears their private pain repeated in the break room, trust is broken and the whole team suffers. Fourth, you don't have to help everyone all the time. That's why peer supporters should work as a team.
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Boundaries matter. You're allowed to be off duty, to rest, and to say no. In fact, your own well-being is part of what makes you effective. If you're running on empty, you can't support anyone. That's why there's a team structure. Self-care is a part of every solid peer support program. And then fifthly, you're not a substitute for accountability. If someone comes to you about something that could harm them or harm themselves, others, or the integrity of the department, you don't cover it up in the name of support. You follow your team's protocols. And we mentioned in the last episode about you need policies, you need procedures, you need protocols in place. So the team knows what to do, knows their boundaries. Peer support is about care, but it's also about responsibility. So how do you keep the role safe and sustainable? Well, clear training, regular check-ins, and ongoing support from leadership.
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Peer supporters need a place to debrief and process their own emotions. Teams should also engage in ongoing in-service training. This is how you grow in skill. This isn't a one-and-done training. It's a continuous process of learning and support. And if you're leading a team, make sure your members know they can tap out if they need to. This role is voluntary, not mandatory.
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Sometimes a person needs a break or needs support themselves. As we say, this is not weakness.
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That's simply wisdom. That's what a wise person does. I worked with a department a while back where a longtime employee had become the go-to for everyone's problems. She wasn't officially on a team, but people naturally opened up to her. And when the department launched a peer support program, she was one of the first people they tapped. But a few months in, she was overwhelmed. Why? Because no one had clarified the difference between being there and being responsible. She had taken on everyone's burdens like they were hers to fix. She eventually dropped out. So she took a break for a while. And wanting to try again, she attended one of my trainings. And she shared with me that she had burned out once before and was afraid it might happen again. But she still wanted to help. And I was able to help her understand the importance of boundaries and expectations. And once she understood she wasn't responsible for the outcome, just the process, things changed.
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She learned how to maintain capacity and bandwidth. And she's still one of their best peer supporters. But now she's healthy and more grounded. She learned to accept support also.
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Now to wrap this up, the role of a peer supporter is extremely powerful, but it has limits. And that's not a bad thing. In fact, those limits are what keep the role sustainable. You're not there to fix. You're there to walk with a person in their pain.
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You're not a therapist. You're a trusted peer. If you're a leader, make sure your team is clear on these boundaries. If you're a peer supporter, take time to reflect on your own role and how you're doing. Are you staying within your limits? Are you getting the support you need?
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And if you're not sure how to define or train for this role in your department, let's connect.
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If you need help training your peer support team or defining clear roles and boundaries, I'd love to help. Head over to stresscaredoc.com slash consultation and schedule a free discovery call. Whether you're just getting started or trying to strengthen what you already have, we can build something that works and lasts. And if this episode helped you see the peer supporter role more clearly, would you share it with someone on your team or maybe in leadership or another agency or department? These conversations are what help us build a culture of care and trust. Thanks for joining me today on Surviving Your Shift. Today, we unpacked the real day-to-day role of a peer supporter, what they do and what they don't do, and how to keep it healthy and effective for the long haul. Come back next time, and we'll be talking about how to train your peer support team. Learn the types of training your team needs, including suicide intervention, crisis response, and emotional support skills. Until then, God bless and have a great day.
