Paramedics' experiences with peer support revealed four key themes: occupational needs driving peer support use, proactive peer contact overcoming barriers to help-seeking, practical and emotional benefits underpinned by shared understanding, and the importance of complementary peer-paramedic characteristics for meaningful support.
Key Findings
Results
Paramedics engaged with peer support for multiple occupational needs including processing traumatic exposures, clinical debriefing, managing work-life intersections, and as a substitute for other supports.
13 paramedics from a single Australian ambulance service participated in semi-structured interviews
All participants had engaged with peer support within the previous 12 months
Occupational demands were identified as the primary shapers of the needs underlying peer support use
Peer support was used as a substitute when other forms of support were unavailable or inaccessible
Results
Proactive peer contact was identified as a critical mechanism for overcoming barriers to self-referral and identifying at-risk paramedics.
Proactive outreach by peers helped paramedics who might not have sought help independently
Proactive contact was also described as fostering a sense of organisational support
Self-referral was characterised as a barrier to accessing peer support programs
Proactive peer contact helped identify paramedics who were at risk but had not sought help themselves
Results
Practical and emotional benefits of peer support were described as being underpinned by a shared understanding between peers and recipients.
Shared occupational experience was central to the perceived value of peer support
Shared understanding was identified as a distinguishing feature of peer support compared to other forms of professional support
Both practical and emotional benefits were attributed to this shared understanding
This theme reflects the unique value paramedics placed on speaking with someone who had lived experience of the same occupational context
Results
Meaningful peer support depended on complementary characteristics between the peer supporter and the paramedic receiving support.
Peer-paramedic matching was identified as a factor that could facilitate or hinder the benefits of peer support
Compatibility of characteristics between the peer and recipient was described as important for support quality
The findings suggest a need to refine peer-paramedic matching processes within programs
Mismatched characteristics were implicated in less helpful peer support interactions
Discussion
Informal clinical debriefing emerged as a component of peer support interactions that warrants further exploration within formal program structures.
Paramedics described using peer support for clinical debriefing, which is not always a formally designated function of peer support programs
The authors identified a need to explore how informal clinical debriefing within peer support can be formalised or better supported
This finding suggests peer support in paramedic services may be serving functions beyond its typical program design
Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop the four main themes from interview transcripts
Methods
The study used a qualitative design with reflexive thematic analysis to explore paramedic experiences of peer support in a single Australian ambulance service.
Sample size was 13 paramedics, all from a single Australian ambulance service
Semi-structured interviews were the primary data collection method
Inclusion criterion required engagement with peer support within the preceding 12 months
Reflexive thematic analysis was the analytic approach, resulting in four main themes
The limited sample from a single service may affect transferability of findings
What This Means
This research suggests that paramedics use peer support programs for a range of reasons tied to the unique demands of their job, including processing traumatic events they witness at work, getting informal clinical feedback, navigating the overlap between their work and personal lives, and accessing help when other resources are not available. The study, which interviewed 13 Australian paramedics who had recently used peer support, found that having a peer proactively reach out — rather than waiting for paramedics to seek help themselves — was an important way to connect at-risk individuals with support and to make them feel the organisation cared about their wellbeing.
The research also found that what made peer support feel genuinely helpful was the sense that the peer supporter truly understood what the job was like from the inside. This shared experience gave the support a quality that formal professional services may not provide. However, the benefit of peer support was not guaranteed — it appeared to depend significantly on how well-matched the peer and the paramedic were in terms of personality and other characteristics, suggesting that how programs pair people together matters.
This research matters because paramedics face high rates of trauma exposure and mental health challenges, yet barriers like stigma or not knowing where to turn can prevent them from seeking help. These findings suggest that peer support programs could be made more effective by building in proactive outreach, considering how clinical debriefing fits within peer support, and improving the process of matching peer supporters to recipients. The authors call for future research to test specific peer support models and measure their impact on paramedics' mental health.
Sawtell E, Cowlishaw S, King K, Dobbie M, Bobetic K, Elmer J, et al.. (2026). Paramedic perspectives on workplace peer support: a thematic analysis.. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2026.2722434