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Launched in May 2023, PeerOnCall has been implemented in 40+ organizations across Canada as part of a research trial, providing access to 12,000+ public safety personnel across fire, paramedic, corrections, police, and communications services.
Employees in healthcare organisations, from hospital to community, benefiting from mental health information and peer support
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Public Safety Personnel experience disproportionately high rates of psychological illness ad injury, including post‑traumatic and cumulative stress injuries and moral injury. Many face persistent barriers to accessing care, including stigma around help‑seeking and limited access to support providers who understand the unique culture of public safety.
Peer support is widely recognized within PSP communities as a trusted, first line of support, yet many organizations lack the infrastructure, or staffing to maintain accessible peer support programs, particularly across regions, shifts, and rural or remote settings.
PeerOnCall was designed to address this gap: to build a trauma-informed, evidence-based app platform that would make peer support accessible and private, and enable connections to relevant supports at a time and place that works for the user.
PeerOnCall was developed through a multi-year, participatory design process shaped by the public safety community. Early pilot work (2017–2021) explored digital peer support, highlighting the need for stronger privacy, scalability, and anonymous text-based support. Extensive stakeholder engagement, beta testing, and co-design across multiple provinces informed the platform’s core features.
Since 2022, PeerOnCall has evolved into a nationally deployed, research-informed platform of twinned apps supporting both PSP users and trained peer supporters. PSP voices guided development at every stage to ensure trust, usability, and cultural relevance.
PeerOnCall was recently reviewed and approved through the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Research on implementation of PeerOnCall has been published: Here is the link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12386291/
PThe PeerOnCall Support app provides resources for peer supporters to indicate their availability, track connections and respond to those seeking support. PeerOnCall users can browse supporter profiles, connect anonymously and securely by text or phone, access mental health resources, and provide anonymous feedback.
It also supports quality improvement and evaluation through anonymous reporting, and offers resources for peer supporters to support them in their roles. Together, the apps create a confidential, user-controlled digital bridge that improves access to peer support while reducing barriers to help-seeking.
Three ways to get involved:
Choose the level that fits.
