Peer Support Guidelines For Veterans, Military, Public Safety Personal and Their Families

OVERVIEW

The Peer support guidelines for Veterans, military, public safety personnel and their Familiesoffer evidence-informed direction on best practices for formal peer support programs that are offered in either workplace or community-based settings. The guidelines are a collaboration between the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families, the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and treatment (CIPSRT) and the Peer Support Community Network.

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WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Peer support is an important resource for Veterans, military, public safety personnel (PSP) and their Families. Their occupations set them apart from others as they have higher rates of exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events compared the general population. These mental health implications last long into retirement.

People who have little or no experience with these occupational cultures often fail to appreciate the unique challenges they pose. This lack of awareness can make Veterans, military members, PSP and their Families feel misunderstood and less trusting of people outside their peer group. As such, these groups are usually more comfortable accessing peer support.

While there are shared commonalities with peer support for the general population, there are unique, distinguishing features of peer support for Veterans, military, PSP and their Families that need to be addressed before developing or delivering a peer support program. The guidelines have been developed to reflect these considerations.

SUMMARY OF METHODS

The development of the peer support guidelines was a collaboration between the Atlas Institute and CIPSRT. The Atlas Institute and CIPSRT convened a national network of 48 stakeholders from the Veteran, PSP, peer support, research and service provider communities to form the Peer Support Community Network (PSCN) and together began the process of co-creating best practice peer support guidelines.

Major steps in the guideline development included:

• Developing definitions specific to peer support for Veterans, military, PSP and their Families
• Determining topic areas relevant to the new guidelines
• Commissioning 12 literature reviews on the identified topics
• Convening to collectively review and discuss the evidence on best-practices
• Completing two iterations of a modified Delphi process to build towards consensus where possible and to gain clarity on areas where best practices had not yet been achieved

The final peer support guidelines were determined through an iterative and intensive review process, both synchronously and asynchronously, with the PSCN and a working group comprised of members from the Veteran, military, PSP, Family and research communities.

BACKGROUND

In 2022, Atlas, CIPSRT and the PSCN identified a need to develop peer support guidelines specific to Veterans, military, PSP and their Families. Through funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, beginning in April 2022 these groups came together to initiate the process of co-creating best practice peer support guidelines. The groups virtually convened eight times (twice in 2022, four times in 2023 and twice in 2024) to determine the definitions and scope, discuss evidence-based practices and review the drafted guidelines. The first version of the guidelines were released in March 2025.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

List of Contributors and Suggested Citation