External Peer Support Teams
When critical incidents occur, the impact doesn’t end when the scene is cleared. The emotional and psychological toll on first responders, dispatchers, supervisors, and command staff continues long after the call.After Watch provides External Peer Support Teams that can be deployed to agencies during and after critical incidents to support your personnel and your internal wellness infrastructure.Our teams are designed to work alongside your department’s internal peer support or wellness unit, not replace it.This allows your internal team to remain supported, regulated, and effective; rather than becoming overwhelmed, burned out, or placed in the dual role of caregiver while they are also personally impacted by the incident.
Why External Peer Support Matters
During officer-involved shootings, line-of-duty deaths, child fatalities, mass casualty events, or prolonged high-stress operations, internal peer teams are often:
• Personally impacted by the incident
• Expected to support colleagues while processing their own reactions
• Pulled in multiple directions operationally and emotionally
• At high risk for compassion fatigue and burnout
External peer support creates psychological distance and neutrality, allowing responders to speak more freely and ensuring your internal team is not carrying the full emotional load alone.
Our External Peer Support Teams are composed of experienced first responders and mental health professionals trained in:
• Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM-informed)
• Trauma-informed peer support
• Moral injury awareness
• Suicide prevention and postvention
• Agency culture and operational realities
Support services may include:
• On-site peer support presence with or without therapy canine
• Individual and small group check-ins
• Leadership and command support
• Identification of personnel at higher risk
• Guidance on follow-up care and resources
• Support for internal peer teams
What After Watch External Teams Provide
Protecting Your Internal Wellness Team
One of the most overlooked risks in law enforcement and fire is the burnout of the helpers themselves.
Internal peer teams often experience:
• Secondary trauma
• Cumulative stress exposure
• Emotional overload
• Lack of space to process their own reactions
By bringing in external support, agencies protect the mental health of their own peer supporters, preserving the longevity and effectiveness of the program.
External support is not a weakness, it is best practice in organizational wellness.
Agencies often request After Watch support following:
• Officer-involved shootings
• Line-of-duty deaths
• Child or infant fatalities
• Suicides or suicide attempts within the agency
• Multi-victim incidents
• Multi-agency incident response
• Mass casualty events
• Extended high-stress operations
• Any incident where leadership recognizes elevated emotional impact
If your people are impacted, your agency deserves support too.
When to Request External Support
our mission
After Watch Foundation exists to support those who serve: before, during, and long after the call ends.
We believe no department should carry critical incidents alone, and no peer support team should be expected to absorb trauma without support of their own.
Because resilience is not built in isolation.
And wellness is not sustained without community.
Request External Peer Support:
If your agency is experiencing or anticipating a critical incident, our External Peer Support Teams are available for deployment.
In addition to our peer support programs, After Watch Foundation will also be offering access to the Peer Connect App, providing confidential, 24/7 peer connection and support anytime, anywhere.
📩 Contact us: info@afterwatchfoundation.com
🌐 Learn more: AfterWatchFoundation.com
📞 Agency inquiries welcome 24/7
(888)844-4AWF (888-844-4293)