San Francisco Deputy Sheriff's Association Peer Support Guide

Lieutenant Kevin Fisher-Paulson is the Department's Peer Support Coordinator. The Assistant Peer Support Coordinator is Senior Deputy Mike Gunn. Peer Support can be reached via the e-mail address of SFSOPeerSupport@aol.com.

Peer Support Unit (PSU)

Peer support is a process whereby a person discusses a personal issue with a non-professional, usually a friend or co-worker. The Peer support Volunteer uses active listening skills, and helps to clarify issues, supporting the person through the problem-solving process. An individual selects a peer support volunteer primarily based on trust. He/She will only share problems with someone considered credible, able to listen without judgments and capable of maintaining confidentiality.

The key to the success of Peer Support is the willingness, self-honesty, and open-mindedness of the participating staff member. Its effectiveness can be determined by the individual's change of attitude and job performance.

The mission of the Peer Support Unit is to provide an informal network of resources and intervention voluntarily staffed by fellow San Francisco Sheriff's department members. The primary function is to provide department members with a confidential, objective, and non-judgmental resource to which they may come voluntarily for support, advice and assistance in resolving job-related problems that can impair their efficiency. Our experience over the past eight years confirms the consensus of law enforcement agencies throughout the nation that peace officers relate to and respond more positively to their peers who have experienced similar problems and learned to cope with them successfully.

The Peer Support Unit is a voluntary resource for all San Francisco Sheriff's Department employees. Peer Support Volunteers are trained to be effective listeners, provide feedback, clarify issues and assist the employee to identify options for their own problem resolution. Peer support provides proactive intervention for personal and/or work-related problems before they become acute. Peer support volunteers are not therapists. When problems appear to require specialized assistance, referral information on professional psychologists, twelve step programs, Crisis Intervention lines and the Employee Assistance program are made available.

Peer Support is administered by the Peer Support Steering Committee, which is chaired by the Peer Support Coordinator. The Peer Support Steering Committee consists of the following volunteers: Joseph Bryant, Kevin Fisher-Paulson, Patti Flynn, Mike Gunn, Kevin Heuer, Chris Krol, Matt O’Shea and Scott Roth. This Committee plans the training, recruitment and retention of all Peer Support Unit volunteers as well as the chaplains.

The Peer Support Unit is technically a component of the Management Division but functions as an independent unit. It is administered by a coordinator who reports directly to the Assistant Sheriff for resource intervention only. The coordinator is also responsible to act as a liaison to the Deputy Sheriffs' Association Executive Board with the planning, development and growth of the Peer Support Unit.

The Peer Support Unit operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at no additional cost to the Sheriff's Department. The program functions because members are caring willing to help other members in need. Members of the Peer Support Program operate during their normal duty hours and support the program as non-financed additional duty.

All participation in peer support is voluntary and is initiated by the person seeking the assistance. There are no mandatory referrals of department employees to the Peer Support Unit nor shall Peer Support volunteers be directed by the department to initiate contact with department employees. In order for the program to succeed, confidentiality must be as complete as humanly and legally possible. Program participation is strictly voluntary for Peer Support volunteers and support receivers. The Peer Support Unit is not an alternative to discipline. A Peer Support volunteer does not intervene in the disciplinary process even at the member's request. Instead, a shop steward may be requested.

Peer supporters should be aware of their own personal limitations and should seek consultation when determining when to disqualify themselves from "counseling" individuals who have problems beyond their scope of training and experience. A peer support volunteer should realize that there may be issues that cause a conflict of interest and may jeopardize the integrity of peer support goals.

Peer supporters must inform department members of the limits of their confidentiality and consider potential role conflicts (i.e. immediate supervisor providing peer support to a subordinate, etc.). Sworn Peer Support volunteers are peace officers first and peer support volunteers second. Any conflicts of roles should be resolved in that context. A breach in confidentiality should be consistent with the law and departmental policy and may include potentially dangerous circumstance such as:

• threats to self

• threats to specific people

• felonies as specified by the department

• serious misdemeanors as specified by the department

• child, spouse and elder abuse

Peer Support volunteers must be approved by the Peer Support Steering Committee. The volunteer must attend POST-certified Peer Support training and quarterly refreshers. Peer Support volunteers do not keep any formal or private records of the supportive contacts. Contacts consist mostly of casual encounters, telephone conversations and/or personal private conversations. Peer support volunteers submit anonymous monthly statistical forms that are tabulated.

Currently-trained peer support volunteers are:

• Tarliena Aamir

• Anthony Aguerre

• Angelo Artificio

• Barry Bloom

• Michael Bouvier

• Renee Bruneman

• Brian Callaway

• John Caramucci

• Luis A. Castellanos

• Theresa Courtney

• Diane Contreras 

• Brock Davis

• Omar Deleon

• Paul Del Rosario

• James Dolly

• Kevin Thaddeus Fisher-Paulson

• Patti Flynn

• Theresa Fox

• Stephen Geracimos

• Delia Ginorio

• Dwight Michael Gunn

• JoAnn Gomez

• Robert Harris

• Kevin Heuer

• Tiffany Ho

• Douglas Jones

• Martin Jones

• George Jurand

• Michael Kim

• Christopher Krol

• Jean Lelu

• Hugh Loutonsock

• Jean Mariani

• Gloria Martin

• Linton Martin

• Darrin Martindale

• John Mayorga

• Coleen Newcomer

• Douglas Novak

• Matthew O'Shea

• Pamela Reed

• Jurnation Reymundo

• Esmeralda Rodriguez

• Ronald Rosado

• Scott Roth

• Ed Ruppenstein

• Jamie Saenz

• Lailah Samson

• Victor Sanchez

• Christopher Sheriff

• Felicia Smith      

• Ty Tek

• Maurice Valentine

• Meritiana Veavea

• Glen Webster

Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT)

An extension of the Peer Support Unit is the administration of an on-call Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CIRT) team. Its primary function is to administer emotional first aid at critical incidents such as a Death-In-Custody, homicide, suicide, needle sticks or bodily fluid exposure, riot, assault, sexual assault, officer-involved shooting or other traumatic incidents. A critical incident is defined as an incident that has the potential for producing the type of significant emotional shock that may adversely impact the psychological well-being of an individual.  Critical Incident Stress De-Briefing is offered to impacted staff within 72 hours of the initial incident.

This coordination of Critical Incident Response is done by the following persons:

• Sergeant K. Heuer is trained in Peer Support and Critical Incident Stress Debriefings. Heuer has served as on the Peer Support Steering Committee for eight years and is currently acting as the CIRT Team Coordinator for the San Francisco Sheriff's Department.
• Jeff Lintner (CIRT trained) of the City Employee Assistance Program.
• Chaplain Joseph Bryant is the department's Chaplain Coordinator.

Any member of the Sheriff's department can activate the Critical Incident protocol by dialing the CIRT pager (415) 313-9576

Chaplaincy
The purpose of the chaplaincy program is to serve SFSD employees and their families by providing non-sectarian spiritual counsel and support for life events, with an understanding of the special needs of the SFSD community. The mission of the chaplaincy program is to provide a Ministry of Presence. Chaplains are also available to solemnize life events such as weddings and funerals.

The chaplain can assist the SFSD employees with ministering to the needs of employees and their families to include: stress awareness and management training; visiting hospitalized, injured or sick employees; participating in the funeral of active or retired employees; officiating at life events such as weddings and baptisms; providing counseling and/or spiritual guidance upon request; and speaking at ceremonial functions such as promotion ceremonies and scholarship dinners.

Chaplains also respond in critical events: assisting the deputies in death or serious injury notifications; assisting the investigator (s) at a serious injury accident or violent crime scene by counseling witnesses, family members, or friends, thus allowing the investigator (s) to work the scene more effectively; providing a calming presence for deputies in emotionally-tense situations (barricaded gunman, hostages, high profile investigations, etc.); and critical incident and post-critical incident stress de-briefing and intervention for employees involved in traumatic events related to the SFSD.

Family Academy
The Peer Support Unit also coordinates the Sheriff’s Department Family Academy which provides interested friends and family members with the opportunity to witness a day in the life of a deputy sheriff. The academies are two days long and occur twice a year.