Welcome!

I began my foray into Peer Support very recently, although sometimes it feels like it's been a decade. I never set out to lead Peer Support, in fact I barely participated up until very recently. Over my call taking and supervisory career, I never used Peer Support, and knew next to nothing about it. Then, I was asked to take over our group. I attended a certification course though Douglas County Sheriff in 2022 with Code 4 Counseling, police, and sheriffs. To be frank, it was completely career-altering, and in many ways life changing to me personally. I couldn't get it out of my head.... it's wonderful that Police, Fire, EMS, and Sheriffs have some robust Peer Support circles, but what about dispatch? I know many of us joined dispatch because we love the responder world, but we're definitely the "red-headed stepchild" of the responder life. We are an add on, an after thought, a last-minute invite. This isn't anyone's fault, we're literally unseen. But I got tired of it. Where was our recognition, our funding, our research, our grants, our continuing training and education, our thanks? I'm certainly not implying that dispatch is any more important than those on the streets, but we definitely have a place at the big kids table. If you're on this page, chances are you know exactly what I mean. The things we've heard on the other end of the phone or radio are just as cruel and horrifying and heartbreaking as anything our partners see on the streets... and all we have is our voice and many, many screens. 

I want to acknowledge that I am very lucky, I have an extremely supportive leadership team and a director who believes deeply in the wellness of our team. I have a spouse who actually gets excited when I get urgent calls at home. Further, I was given a huge amount of latitude in designing our Peer Support program the way I wanted, and was given resources and support along the way. I know that the only reason our program in Denver has succeeded is because ours and other centers around the country are hungry for our own system. We're ready to forge our own path and make our own networks. We're able and willing to find the resources, attend the trainings, and answer the call in the middle of the night when our own need help. 

So what next? I don't know now and I didn't know then. My boss refers to me (I hope affectionately) as a "bull in a china shop". I leap before I look. I charge ahead and don't ask many questions. Sometimes, this bites me back hard... and I'm so glad my co-coordinator balances out my hard headed approach and keeps me grounded. For anyone who is just starting a team or revamping an existing one, my advice is simple: just start. No one knows all the answers, and no one has the perfect program. Don't reinvent the wheel, beg-borrow-steal your way into making your own version of what fits your agency! That's what this website is for. For a career in COMMUNICATIONS... we don't do very well communicating with each other. I wanted a place where teams from across the state could share resources, ideas, successes, failures, policies, trainings, you name it! My dream for this website (which literally began a few hours ago) is for us to all collaborate and problem solve together. 

This topic is not going away soon. Wellness, Health, Peer Support, Mental Health.... these things are here to stay. Many of us are in a position where this is a "side gig", including me. By day, I am an operations supervisor in a major city, with a team of people and a large operation to run. That's why I am passionate about sharing what we're doing with each other, as none of us are really able to give this the attention it needs until we begin dedicating positions to health and wellness for our centers. Until then, I hope this can help along the way on your own journeys. 

~Jessica Tresch 

Denver 911