{"id":7260,"date":"2026-05-26T15:08:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/?p=7260"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:11:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:11:46","slug":"research-update-peer-support-cism-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/26\/research-update-peer-support-cism-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Update: Peer Support\/CISM Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1430px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p>The I.U.P.A. Research Department is asked by local leaders to conduct research for our members such as SurveyMonkey surveys to collect information on topics of interest; research reports on equipment, resources, and matters of LEO safety; wage and benefits surveys to use for negotiations; and more.<\/p>\n<p>The I.U.P.A. Research Department received a request to find a list of peer support\/CISM programs in the State of Florida, and upon discovering that no such list was readily accessible in a search, promptly began a survey of departments in Florida to compile the necessary information.<\/p>\n<p>The survey questions were emailed to every Chief and Sheriff in the State of Florida, using Florida Department of Law Enforcement contact lists available online. Survey questions included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Does the agency\/department have a designated Peer Support\/CISM Team in place?<\/li>\n<li>Do they have an established policy and\/or written directive?<\/li>\n<li>Is the team made up of sworn and non-sworn members?<\/li>\n<li>Is there incentive\/specialty pay for being on the team?<\/li>\n<li>Does the member receive \u201con call\u201d pay for periods when required to answer the phone?<\/li>\n<li>Do they receive call-out pay (or is it an honor system to answer)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Over seventy departments responded to the survey emails and the information was entered into a survey available to I.U.P.A. local presidents upon request to make the information more accessible to members who might require it.<\/p>\n<p>To express the importance of peer support\/CISM teams and the difference between them, Virginia Peer Support Association shared on their <a href=\"https:\/\/vapeersupport.org\/why-peer-support\/\">website<\/a>, \u201cUnderstanding the role of Peer Support and how it relates to CISM and CISD services is an important question for Peer Support Teams and CISM \/CISD teams alike. Critical Incident Stress Management Teams have historically been tasked with providing debriefings, defusings or demobilization based on the ICISF model of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) but have NOT been trained in the provision of proactive and even responsive peer support services. While it is true that CISM teams do provide a \u201cfocused\u201d peer support service when delivering a Critical Stress debriefing, defusing, or demobilization, they have historically not been trained to offer \u201cgeneral\u201d peer support services; those support services offered outside of a singularly stressful event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Danielle Rousseau wrote an <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/2024\/02\/27\/peer-support-for-law-enforcement\/\">article<\/a> for Boston University, \u201c<em>Peer Support for Law Enforcement\u201d<\/em>, in which she shared, \u201cOver the past couple of years, there has been a big push for teams that are called \u2018Peer support groups\u2019. Basically, a peer support group is a team of law enforcement officers (peers) and mental health professionals that make themselves available to their co-workers and to other law enforcement officers who belong to different agencies. The people on this team are there to lend their support, empathy, and anything else that may be needed for the fellow brother or sister that is struggling mentally or has experienced some traumatic event. And because these people are \u2018peers\u2019, police officers tend to feel more comfortable seeking them out and opening up to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rousseau continued, \u201cIn addition, peer support is not a loosely put together idea that sounds good on paper but is not proven in the field. The COPS office in the Department of Justice has outlined a program that can help establish peer support teams, spanning from the biggest departments to the smaller, more rural departments. In the article \u2018Peer Support for Officer Wellness\u2019, it breaks down why it is important for a peer support team, and it also lays out a roadmap on how to successfully implement this kind of program in any department (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cops.usdoj.gov)\">www.cops.usdoj.gov)<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rousseau concluded, \u201cIn conclusion, police officers are people too who experience the same kind of emotions as everyone else. The job of a police officer is rewarding, but it can also be taxing both physically and mentally. Seeking out help is no longer frowned upon. In fact, it\u2019s encouraged. Peer support teams are an important part of this profession, and it is a movement that needs even more recognition than it is currently receiving. It is okay to not be okay. The support is out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"awb-gallery-wrapper awb-gallery-wrapper-1 button-span-no\" style=\"--more-btn-alignment:center;\" data-limit=\"10\" data-page=\"1\"><div style=\"margin:-5px;--awb-bordersize:0px;\" class=\"fusion-gallery fusion-gallery-container fusion-grid-2 fusion-columns-total-4 fusion-gallery-layout-grid fusion-gallery-1\"><div style=\"padding:5px;\" class=\"fusion-grid-column fusion-gallery-column fusion-gallery-column-2 hover-type-none\"><div class=\"fusion-gallery-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Cover.jpg\" rel=\"noreferrer\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[gallery_image_1]\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Cover.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Cover.jpg\" width=\"594\" height=\"768\" alt=\"\" title=\"Peer Support Survey Cover\" aria-label=\"Peer Support Survey Cover\" class=\"lazyload img-responsive wp-image-7261\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27594%27%20height%3D%27768%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20594%20768%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27594%27%20height%3D%27768%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Cover-200x259.jpg 200w, https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Cover-400x517.jpg 400w, https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Cover.jpg 594w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(min-width: 2200px) 100vw, (min-width: 712px) 685px, (min-width: 640px) 712px, \" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div><div style=\"padding:5px;\" class=\"fusion-grid-column fusion-gallery-column fusion-gallery-column-2 hover-type-none\"><div class=\"fusion-gallery-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Page-1-with-Everyone-in-Survey.jpg\" rel=\"noreferrer\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[gallery_image_1]\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Page-1-with-Everyone-in-Survey.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Page-1-with-Everyone-in-Survey.jpg\" width=\"548\" height=\"686\" alt=\"\" title=\"Peer Support Page 1 with Everyone in Survey\" aria-label=\"Peer Support Page 1 with Everyone in Survey\" class=\"lazyload img-responsive wp-image-7264\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27548%27%20height%3D%27686%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20548%20686%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27548%27%20height%3D%27686%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Page-1-with-Everyone-in-Survey-200x250.jpg 200w, https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Page-1-with-Everyone-in-Survey-400x501.jpg 400w, https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Page-1-with-Everyone-in-Survey.jpg 548w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(min-width: 2200px) 100vw, (min-width: 712px) 685px, (min-width: 640px) 712px, \" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div><div style=\"padding:5px;\" class=\"fusion-grid-column fusion-gallery-column fusion-gallery-column-2 hover-type-none\"><div class=\"fusion-gallery-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-2-from-Survey.jpg\" rel=\"noreferrer\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[gallery_image_1]\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-2-from-Survey.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-2-from-Survey.jpg\" width=\"564\" height=\"698\" alt=\"\" title=\"Peer Support Survey Table 2 from Survey\" aria-label=\"Peer Support Survey Table 2 from Survey\" class=\"lazyload img-responsive wp-image-7262\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27564%27%20height%3D%27698%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20564%20698%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27564%27%20height%3D%27698%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-2-from-Survey-200x248.jpg 200w, https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-2-from-Survey-400x495.jpg 400w, https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-2-from-Survey.jpg 564w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(min-width: 2200px) 100vw, (min-width: 712px) 685px, (min-width: 640px) 712px, \" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div><div style=\"padding:5px;\" class=\"fusion-grid-column fusion-gallery-column fusion-gallery-column-2 hover-type-none\"><div class=\"fusion-gallery-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-from-Survey.jpg\" rel=\"noreferrer\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[gallery_image_1]\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-from-Survey.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-from-Survey.jpg\" width=\"571\" height=\"696\" alt=\"\" title=\"Peer Support Survey Table from Survey\" aria-label=\"Peer Support Survey Table from Survey\" class=\"lazyload img-responsive wp-image-7263\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27571%27%20height%3D%27696%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20571%20696%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27571%27%20height%3D%27696%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-from-Survey-200x244.jpg 200w, https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-from-Survey-400x488.jpg 400w, https:\/\/iupa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Peer-Support-Survey-Table-from-Survey.jpg 571w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(min-width: 2200px) 100vw, (min-width: 712px) 685px, (min-width: 640px) 712px, \" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p>The I.U.P.A. Research Department has this survey (along with related policies that were collected in the course of this project) and other previously completed research available to local presidents upon request listed at <a href=\"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/research-department\/\">https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/research-department\/<\/a>. Ask your local\u2019s president to contact the I.U.P.A. Research Department today at <a href=\"mailto:alinaj@iupa.org\">alinaj@iupa.org<\/a> to request a copy of this survey as well as other previously completed research that is of interest to LEOs. If you need peer support and are unsure of where to go to find it, contact your local president to help you. If local presidents require assistance in locating peer support services in their area, contact the I.U.P.A. Research Department for assistance and we would be happy to research it for you.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iupa-briefing-room"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7266,"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions\/7266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iupa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}