About Peer Response
Built by responders, for responders.
We are a Wisconsin nonprofit working to make sure peer support exists, is funded, and is within reach of every first responder who needs it.
Our Story
This started on a shift,
not in a boardroom.
Peer Response was founded by people who do this work. We have stood at the same scenes, carried the same calls home, and watched good people struggle in silence because asking for help felt like admitting weakness.
The research backs up what the firehouse and the squad room already know. About 30% of first responders develop a behavioral-health condition like depression or PTSD, compared with about 20% of the general public. Firefighters and police officers are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. And the support that works best, time and again, is support from someone who has been there.
The research backs up what the firehouse and the squad room already know. About 30% of first responders develop a behavioral-health condition like depression or PTSD, compared with about 20% of the general public. Firefighters and police officers are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. And the support that works best, time and again, is support from someone who has been there.
We built Peer Response to close the gap between the responders who need that support and the resources that can provide it.
Sources: SAMHSA; Ruderman Family Foundation.
What We Do
A connector and a funder, not a replacement.
We raise funds
Training a peer supporter and keeping them certified costs money that small departments rarely have in the budget. We help cover it.
We build capacity
We help fire, EMS, law enforcement, 911 dispatch, and other public safety agencies stand up and sustain their own peer support teams.
We connect
We link departments and trained peers across the region, so a responder who needs a confidential conversation can find one, even when their own agency does not have a team yet.
What We are not
We work alongside existing teams, never over them.
Peer Response does not replace department or county peer support programs. We exist to strengthen and extend them. When a responder reaches out, we point them to their own department's resources first.
We step in to fund, connect, or fill a gap, not to compete with the teams already doing the work. If your county or agency already has a program, we want to help it reach further, not take its place.
We step in to fund, connect, or fill a gap, not to compete with the teams already doing the work. If your county or agency already has a program, we want to help it reach further, not take its place.
Want to be part of it?
Whether you are a chief looking to build a team, a trained peer supporter who wants to be a resource, or someone who simply wants to help, there is a place for you here.
