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From YouTube: Buncombe County Peer Response Network
Description
The Buncombe County Peer Response Network is a volunteer organization of "First Responder" Peers within Buncombe County Agencies (and surrounding counties) who believe that the first line of defense against job stress, burnout, post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI), and related issues is Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) services. In this video you'll learn all about the PRN, who the Peers are, and why a service like this should be the rule, and not the exception to the rule.
A
For
a
long
time
in
law
enforcement,
we've
always
done
a
really
good
job
of
helping
our
people
survive
both
physically.
In
other
words,
you
know
defensive
tactics
and
the
things
that
they
do
to
keep
them
alive
on
the
street
and
we've
always
done
a
real
good
job
and
help
them
survive
legally.
When
the
cases
go
to
court
and
making
sure
they
operate
under
the
under
the
color
of
law.
One
of
the
things
that
we've
not
done
a
very
good
job
on
in
our
profession
is
taking
care
of
our
people.
A
B
Overall
goal
for
peer
response
in
a
law
enforcement
agency
is
the
development
of
resiliency
resiliency
for
the
officers
and
the
staff
members
and
resiliency
for
the
police
agency
itself.
It's
very
important
that
we
focus
on
officer
safety.
In
the
same
way,
we
focus
on
training
equipment,
those
kinds
of
things,
the.
C
Peer
program
is
a
basically
an
organized
effort
for
the
agency
to
have
a
group
of
people
who
have
special
training
that
will
allow
us
to
contact
other
people
in
the
organization
because
of
the
stressors.
That
would
go
through
from
a
professional
standpoint
and
also
just
the
basic
stressors
that
we
all
have
in
normal
everyday
life,
whether
it
be
marriages
or
finances
or
anything
and
any
of
those
can
impact
our
work.
When.
D
Officers
get
up
and
they
put
their
uniforms
on.
There
immediately
thought
to
be
someone
who
has
the
knowledge
and
can
solve
problems.
So
when
someone
who
is
in
this
profession,
there
looked
at
is
being
superhuman
as
being
superheroes
and
there
are
a
lot
of
superheroes
in
first
responders,
yet
we're
human.
We
have
the
same
feelings:
we
have
the
same
family
issues,
same
financial
issues,
we're
constantly
dealing
with
trauma
and
critical
issues
and
violence
and
drama
it
takes
its
toll.
People.
E
Would
go
through
a
bad
situation
and
felt
like
they
didn't
have
anyone
to
turn
to
and
so
kept
captain
Swedes.
He
went
to
the
sheriff
and
the
chef
came
up
with
this
idea
with
the
peer
support
group
and
they
felt
like
they
had
someone
to
talk
to.
That
was
not
a
supervisor
that
it
would
help
them
to
cope
and
to
deal
with
it.
I
had.
A
A
Gilmartin
is
called
mosman
survival
of
law
enforcement
and
it
talks
about
a
lot
of
the
things
that
we
deal
with
it,
a
pretty
specific
to
our
profession,
and
when
you
start
becoming
aware
of
the
fact
that
we
lose
three
times
the
number
of
officers
to
suicide,
then
we
do
to
violent
criminal
assault.
You
get
your
attention,
we're
missing
the
mark
somewhere
in
being
able
to
respond
to
our
officers
in
a
way
that
helps
them
deal
with
the
things
that
they
deal
with
every
day.
We.
B
Have
to
do
something
up
front
for
prevention
and
mitigation,
and
this
peer
support
team
has
the
unique
ability
to
do
that.
As
an
embedded
clinician
I
can
do
resource
referral,
I
can
do
some
treatment
options.
I
can
provide
some
support,
but
there
is
nothing
that
takes
the
place
of
another
officer
saying
to
a
colleague,
I,
understand,
I
know
where
you're
coming
from
I've
been
there.
So
there's
no
way
any
clinician
can
take
the
place
of
that
peer
response
peer
support
component,
which
is
so
important
for
the
success
of
an
officer.
What.
C
These
peers
do,
is
they
basically
keep
their
radar
up
notice
when
somebody
is
acting,
maybe
a
little
bit
different
and
will
make
contact
with
them
and
say
I'm
noticing
that
you
are
acting
just
a
little
bit
different?
Is
everything
okay
and
give
them
the
opportunity
in
many
cases
to
to
just
talk
about
it
because
a
lot
of
times
we
don't
want?
The
answer
is
given
to
us.
C
B
D
Peers
are
very
important
because
we
know
what
each
other
does.
We
are
doing
the
same
things
and
we've
experienced
the
same
things,
and
so
it's
like
talking
to
a
friend
and
having
someone
can
say:
yeah
I
know
what
you're
feeling
or
let
me
tell
you
about
this
and
maybe
offer
solutions,
but
most
of
the
time
it's
just
to
be
heard.
It's
just
have
a
place
to
go
to
be
heard
to
talk
about
whatever
it
is,
to
kind
of
release
it
to
the
universe.
So
to
speak
as.
F
A
peer
we
respond
to
people
with
maybe
a
problem
that
they're
having
a
little
problem.
A
little
trouble
with
I
can't
emphasize
the
confidentiality
enough.
We
also
respond
to
groups
that
have
been
all
responded
to
motor
vehicle
accidents,
some
sort
of
sickness
or
death
in
the
family,
and
we
try
to
instruct
them
and
show
them
ways
that
they
can
that
we
can
help
and
help
them
get
through
a
difficult
time
that
they're
having
at
this
point,
I.
G
First
heard
about
this
through
the
job
Val
Liberty,
who
is
our
programs
director
and
she
asked
me
to
be
a
part
of
it
and
I
thought
it
was
a
great
idea.
We
all
do
the
same
job.
We
all
have
the
same
stressors.
We
have
faced
a
lot
of
the
same
critical
incidents
here
at
work
and
even
at
home.
You
know,
law
enforcement
face
a
lot
of
you
know
long
hours,
the
same
stressors
at
home
with
family
and
friends,
I
decided.
H
To
become
a
peer
so
that
I
could
help
my
fellow
coworkers
I
thought
it
would
be
a
good
idea
to
get
I
know
they
say,
don't
talk
about
feelings,
but
to
get
your
feelings
out
in
the
open
and
maybe
I
have
somebody
that
you
feel
comfortable
talking
with
just
to
kind
of
vent,
or
you
know,
give
you
a
way
to
vent
and
make
yourself
feel
a
little
better.
One.
I
Of
the
key
points
for
the
peer
support
group
is
that
any
any
assistance
any
type
of
speaking
back
and
forth.
It's
always
non-judgmental,
it's
anonymous,
it
doesn't
go
to
supervisors
and
it's
not
judgmental
you're
speaking
to
others
who
have
experienced
the
same
thing
or
something
very
similar,
and
they
know
where
you're
coming
from
it's
very
comforting.
It's.
F
E
We
just
sent
out
a
letter
and
said
anyone
interested
and
been
a
peer
response
person.
Please
contact
us,
and
then
it
went
through
its
stages
that
we
had
to
pick
out
what
we
thought
was
the
best
people,
and
so
far
we
have
I
mean
we
haven't
lost
anyone
that
first
initiated
said
I'm
interested
I
want
to
be
on
this
team.
I
think
they've
dealt
with
some
of
that
stuff
in
their
own
life
and
they
want
to
reach
out
and
touch
other
people.
Our
peer
group.
A
Are
phenomenal
in
that
they
they
are
people
in
this
profession
in
different
lines
of
this
profession,
some
of
them
were
sworn
officers
law
enforcement
officers.
Some
of
them
are
support
staff
there
they're
kind
of
all
over
the
gamut
and
what
they
do
is
they
bring
together
their
collective
experiences
and
most
of
them
have
had
a
a
critical
incident.
A
That's
cause
them
issues
and
I,
don't
know
who
said
it,
but
you
know
you
always
go
to
the
people
who
have
been
there
made
their
way
back
and
those
are
the
people
in
our
profession
that
they
look
to
to
trust
kind
of
help
them
get
their
their
issues
in
a
place
to
where
they
can
deal
with
them
appropriately
and
get
them
in
the
right
place.
The.
D
G
Life
has
been
affected
personally
and
professionally,
with
suicide
and
I.
Think
if
anything,
it's
made
me
more
passionate
about
this
program,
because
I
have
seen
what
it
does
to
people's
lives,
the
people
that
are
left-
and
it's
a
if
you
can
just
say
a
few
words
to
somebody
that
that
can
make
a
difference
or
just
listen.
You
know
and
let
them
vent
and
get
it
out
there.
Sometimes
things
don't
seem
quite
as
bad.
B
While
we
initially
envisioned
the
Buncombe
County
peer
response,
Network
being
something
that
would
be
primarily
utilized
by
first
responders
and
in
this
case
law
enforcement
personnel
in
Buncombe
County,
we
quickly
discovered
that
there
was
a
huge
regional
need.
We
only
have
two
agencies-
Buncombe
County
Sheriff's
Office
and
the
State
Highway
Patrol-
that
offer
any
kind
of
peer
support.
We
often
partner
with
the
Highway
Patrol
to
offer
peer
support
interventions.
We
can
offer
response
interventions
such
as
a
debriefing
or
a
diffusing.
What.
J
The
debriefing
is
about
is,
it
is
just
an
open
type
meeting
with
all
officers
that
have
been
involved
in
any
instant
that
incident
that
would
cause
them
some
distress
or
discomfort
or
concern
for
doing
their
job.
It
was
a
very
open
meeting.
People
were
able
to
express
their
feelings
openly
without
any
ridicule,
and
the
the
team
gave
everybody
plenty
of
time
to
express
what
they
want
to
talk
about.
The.
K
Debriefing
starts,
we
start
with
a
group.
We
will
put
them
in
a
circle,
so
everybody's
facing
it's
not
like
someone's
sitting
in
the
front
row
and
someone
sitting
in
the
back
road
everybody's
got
equal
footing
equal
ground,
and
then
we
start
by
allowing
that
first
person,
the
first
one
on
the
scene
that
person
to
talk
first
and
then
we
go
through
and
allow
each
person
to
talk
as
they
came
on
the
scene
and
what
their
role
was.
We
find
a
lot
of
times.
It
helps,
especially
in
the
law
enforcement
field,
people
just
to
talk.
H
Kind
of
rehash
the
details
of
the
event
you
just
kind
of
go
in
an
order
of
what
happened
first
and
you
kind
of
go
through
what
happened
next,
in
what
steps
did
you
take
and
once
you
get
that
together,
people
kind
of
see
okay,
well,
I
did
do
what
I
was
supposed
to
do
and
and
I
wouldn't
have
done
anything
differently.
I
followed
it
like
I
should
I
did
everything
that
I
could
do,
and
so
once
they
rehash
the
events,
and
then
you
know
the
feelings
come
out
and
and
then
they
have
other
people
reiterating.
H
Well,
you
did
the
right
thing,
so
you
just
go
through
the
order
of
events.
It
brings
out
all
the
emotion
then,
once
you
do
that
you
kind
of
go
through
and
you
ask
people
well.
How
did
that
make
you
feel?
And
what
were
you
thinking
at
that
moment?
So
you
just
rehash
the
whole
event
to
go
through
it
step
by
step.
We.
J
We
had
a
hostage
standoff
that
where
a
assailant
was
shooting
at
us
and
within
that
same
week,
one
of
my
deputies,
sons
died
and
you
know
they're
just
a
whole
lot
of
pressure
in
office
and
the
benefits
to
the
debriefing
was
we
could.
We
could
see
a
big
change
in
our
officers
just
about
as
soon
as
the
briefing
was
over,
because
everybody
opened
up
and
talked
about
things
that
that
we
hadn't
been
able
to
sit
down
as
a
group
and
talked
about
since
december
of
last
year,
so
it
the
the
benefits
are
so
many
week.
K
B
Effects
of
cumulative
stress
mean
that
the
officers
family
suffers,
they
suffer.
We
see
symptoms
that
are
very
common,
that
can
be
warning
signs,
nightmares
night,
terrors,
changes
in
behavior
patterns,
loss
of
interest,
unusual,
happy
activities,
changes
in
mood
and
demeanor,
and
those
are
the
things
that
appear.
Responder
peer
supporter
look
for
before
they
develop
into
full-blown
mental
illness,
PTSD
or
physical
symptoms.
Heart
attacks
are
common,
we
see
people
retire
and
then
isolate
themselves
and
the
risk
of
suicide
goes
up
tremendously
for
an
officer
yeah.
L
I
had
several
critical
incidents
throughout
my
law
enforcement
career.
It
started
when
I
was
on
patrol
one
of
the
first
ones
was
a
house
fire
that
there
was
two
children
and
a
grandmother,
the
parish
that
I
knew
the
children
I
needs
a
grandmother
needs
a
mother
of
the
children
who
was
not
there
at
the
time,
and
it
was
devastating
to
see
that
went
on
to
several
other
critical
incidents
throughout
my
law
enforcement
career
was
severely
injured
in
a
fight
that
I
was
in
I
broke
my
tibia
in
my
fibia
a
pretty
severe
injury.
L
They
overdose
smelled,
morphine
and
yeah.
That
was
a
close
one.
How
the
instance
just
kept
piling
up,
kept
piling
up
and
was
always
taught
to
just
push
it
down
suck
it
up,
rub
some
dirt
in
it
get
over
it
and
till
one
day.
I
just
kidding
push
my
incidents
down
anymore.
They
were
in
the
forefront
of
my
mind.
That
was
a
constant
battle
on.
M
November
second
I
had
to
leave
work
to
go
home
and
take
my
husband
Therese
receive
help
because
he
was
talking
of
dying,
didn't
want
to
live
and
I
had
to
take
action.
I
had
to
make
a
decision
that
no
wife
should
ever
have
to
make
I
feel
like
if
there
had
been
help
with
our
incidents
appear,
respond
saying
all
along
helping
the
family
checking
the
temperature
see
what's
going
on,
I
wouldn't
have
I,
wouldn't
it
wouldn't
had
been
to
that
point.
L
I
never
would
have
thought
I
would
go
there,
a
matter
of
fact.
I
told
my
therapist,
maybe
a
week
before
that
he
asked
me
if
I
had
he
self-harm,
thoughts
and
I
said
god.
No,
if
somebody
says
I
committed
suicide,
you
tell
them
to
investigate
it,
because
that's
not
me
I
love
myself
too
much
and
I
really
believe
that
and
then
a
week
later
and
I
just
I
was
at
the
lowest
point
in
my
life
that
I've
ever
ever
been
and
I
contemplated
that
I
just
couldn't
go
on
no
more.
L
M
My
husband's
instance
were
cumulative
on
to
one
on
top
of
each
other.
You
know,
probably
before
this
episode,
when
he
was
just
out
of
field
training,
just
starting
out
on
his
own
spy,
when
his
first
incident
hit
and
I
knew
then
that
it
affected
him
forever
and
it
just
piled
up
piled
up
and
I.
Think
if
you
can't
vent
a
little
bit
you
just
you
can't
keep
holding
stuff
in
I.
Think
if
we've
had
that
all
along,
we
wouldn't
had
to
hide
or
keep
things
a
secret
that
we
were
dealing
with.
I.
E
Was
with
the
service
partner
and
I'm
over
the
SWAT
team
now,
but
I
was
on
the
SWAT
team.
When
sergeant
Jeff
Hewitt
got
killed
in
the
line
of
duty.
We
responded
to
the
call
officer
down
and
we
did
not
know
that
sergeant
Hewitt
had
pipes
away
until
the
it
was
over
with
and
they
walked
up
and
said.
Jeff
didn't
make
it
and
we
were
sort
of
left
on
their
own
to
deal
with
those
situations
and
it
took
a
while
to
do
that.
This
is
our
team.
The
SWAT
team
were
the
surest
response.
E
Team
came
out,
we
talked
to
each
other
talked
ourselves
through
it,
and
that
was
it
I
mean.
Was
everybody
thinks
law
enforcement
officers
are
tough
that
nature,
but
everyone
has
a
breaking
point
sometime
or
some
somehow
they
reach
a
breaking
point
where
they
felt
like
they
had
no
way
to
release
it.
Cuz.
L
The
last
thing
you
want
to
do
is
traumatize
somebody
with
your
trauma
that
you've
had
and
I
just
think
the
mental
health
awareness
in
law
enforcement
is
something
that
has
to
go
to
the
next
level.
We
have
to
move
forward
and
help
these
officers
and
their
families,
because
if
they
are
an
officer
that
has
a
spouse
and
children,
it
doesn't
just
affect
the
officer.
It
affects
the
whole
family,
I
think,
with
what
the
peer
response
Network
is
doing.
L
M
Want
to
see
healthy
families,
not
just
good
marriages,
but
great
marriages
among
law
enforcement.
We
have
this
terrible
stigma
that
you're
in
law
enforcement,
your
marriage
should
be
hell
and
it
don't
have
to
be
that
way
and
I
hope
me
and
Tom
can
represent,
put
a
face
on
you
can
get
through
these
instance.
You
can
move
forward,
you
can
be
healthy.
J
I
would
tell
other
agency,
you
know
if
you
have
any.
If
it's
a
concern
for
you,
you,
you
probably
need
to
have
somebody
come
in
and
debrief
yet
it
brings
out
emotions
and
in
folks
that
I
happen
saw
it
brought
our
our
office
closer
together.
It
heals
some
wounds
that
bound
up
some
places
that
that
need
to
be
bound
up
and
just
made
us
a
tighter
group
of
people
and
when.
E
I
first
saw
it
they
kind
of
invincibility
you're
going
to
be
over
in
the
jail
portion
of
it.
Always
one
of
those
touchy
feeling
things
again
until
I
realized
what
it
was.
If
we
had
this
when
I
first
got
into
it,
I
think
we
wouldn't
have
lost
as
many
people
that
ran
into
a
family
problem
with
her
what
the
spouse
or
their
children,
and
it
supports,
really
worked
out
for
us.
It's.
D
Not
only
fiscally
responsible,
it's
the
right
thing
to
do,
for
people
that
take
on
this
role
and
any
department
that
has
this
creates
a
stronger
bond
with
each
other
when
they
can
when
they
work
together,
and
then
they
can
sit
down
and
share
together.
The
bond
that
comes
from
that
is
incredible.
There.
B
Is
a
tremendous
amount
of
synergy
that
takes
place
when
you
have
peers
taking
ownership
for
a
program
like
this
there's
a
tremendous
amount
of
savings
that
comes
to
the
county,
the
agency
and
to
the
individuals
who
gets
support
at
a
crucial
time
in
their
careers?
This
kind
of
thing
should
be
the
standard,
not
the
exception
when.
H
You
have
an
agency
that
they're
responsible
for
the
lives
and
safety
of
others
and
they're,
not
feeling
very
safe
themselves
or
they're,
not
feeling
in
the
best
health
themselves,
it's
hard
for
them
to
go
and
take
care
of
others.
So
if
you
have
an
organization
like
the
peer
group
that
xin
and
says,
if
there
are
things
that
you
need
to
talk
about,
you
don't
feel
comfortable
going
to
likely,
or
somebody
like
that
or
counselor,
that
there
is
peers
that
you
can
talk
to
on
a
one-on-one
basis.
F
Enforcement
as
a
whole
is
a
very
enclosed
civilization
on
its
own,
and
the
reason
this
does
work
so
well
is
they
have
their
own
family,
trying
to
help
them
and
there's
no
outside
interference
that,
along
with
the
trust
and
the
confidentiality,
we
will
be
very
successful
at
doing
dealing
with
law
enforcement
community.
It.
G
I
C
That
we're
in
our
second
year
and
we're
in
the
first
six
months
of
our
second
year.
You
know
our
contacts
are
up
over
two
hundred
percent
of
what
they
were
that
first
year,
just
over
the
second
year
and
the
number
of
debriefings
that
we've
been
to
and
a
number
of
agencies
that
we've
been
able
to
assist
just
in
our
surrounding
counties
have
has
really
surprised
me
in
the
need.
That's
out
there
just
by
us
developing
this
team.
It's.
A
The
right
thing
for
the
right
reasons-
and
it's
also
very
cost-effective,
I
mean
if
you
look
at
it,
it's
just
a
bottom
line
issue
to
be
able
to
keep
your
folks
in
the
game
mentally
healthy,
because
a
lot
of
times
when
that
crisis
are
when
that
stress
from
that
crisis
starts
to
affect
the
individual.
The
work
performance
goes
down.
Their
interactions
with
the
public
go
down
their
interactions
with
other
family
members
go
down
and
just
a
lot
of
times.
A
The
health
issues
from
those
unresolved
situations
will
will
cause
them
to
miss
a
lot
of
work,
and
we
all
know
those
are
things
that
cost
agencies
in
ways
that
we
really
can't
even
measure
so
I
think
doing
the
right
thing
for
the
right
reasons,
because
it's
what
you
should
do
for
your
people
to
take
care
of
them
with
what
you
ask
them
to
do,
we're
putting
them
in
those
situations.
So
we
we
owe
them
that.