Building Your Support System and Why Peer Support Belongs in Aquatic Emergency Preparedness

We spend a lot of time preparing lifeguards for the moment something goes wrong. We teach recognition, entries, approaches, extrications, CPR, AED use and emergency oxygen. We practice Emergency Action Plans until people know where to go, who calls 911, who brings equipment and who takes over different parts of the response. We inspect equipment, document training and run drills because we understand something fundamental about emergency preparedness: the middle of an emergency is a terrible time to start figuring out what everyone is supposed to do. 

Then the ambulance leaves. The pool deck gets cleaned up. Equipment gets put back. Statements are written. Parents are called. Administrators are notified. Depending on what happened, the facility may reopen. Eventually someone starts talking about tomorrow's schedule, whether shifts need to be covered and what needs to happen operationally next. And the people who responded are still there.

That is the part of emergency preparedness the aquatic industry is getting better at talking about, but we still have work to do. We have spent decades building systems around the physical response to emergencies. We have not always built equally intentional systems around the people who respond to them. At the International Lifeguard Critical Incident Response Alliance, or ILCIRA, we believe those things belong together. Psychological preparedness should not begin after a critical incident, and support should not depend on whether an individual lifeguard knows how, when or who to ask for help.

We prepare people to respond. We also need to prepare organizations to support the responders.

“Peer support is not about having the perfect thing to say. It is about making sure someone does not have to carry a difficult experience alone.”

That is really the heart of this conversation.

The emergency doesn't end when the scene clears

Aquatic professionals can encounter experiences most people will never face at work. A lifeguard may perform CPR on a child, participate in a drowning response, manage a serious spinal injury, respond to a suicide or medical emergency, or watch a colleague participate in a rescue with an outcome nobody wanted. Sometimes the incident is dramatic and obviously significant. Sometimes it is something other people might consider relatively routine.

The responder's experience does not always correspond neatly to how an incident looks on paper. Two people can participate in the exact same emergency and respond very differently afterward. One person may want to talk immediately. Another may want some space. Someone may initially feel fine and notice a response several days later. Another person may be deeply affected by an incident that their colleagues appear to move through fairly quickly.

That variability matters because one of the easiest mistakes organizations can make is deciding what someone should feel based on what happened. We may say, “You did everything right,” “The patient survived,” “There was nothing else you could have done,” or “You've handled worse than this.” Those statements may be well intentioned, and some of them may even be factually true, but they don't necessarily tell us anything about how the person in front of us is experiencing the event.

Support starts with leaving room for individual responses instead of prescribing one.

It also means recognizing that aquatic responders are a particularly unique workforce. Many of the people we are asking to perform these jobs are teenagers and young adults. A 16-year-old lifeguard can carry an extraordinary amount of responsibility. We train teenagers to recognize drowning, enter the water, make rescues, perform CPR, use an AED, activate emergency systems and manage frightened members of the public. They can be remarkably capable in those moments.

But competence during an emergency does not mean someone automatically knows how to process what happened afterward. For some young lifeguards, a critical incident may be their first close encounter with serious injury or death. They may go home to parents who have no idea what happened during their shift. Their friends may have no frame of reference for it. They may not know whether what they're feeling is typical, whether they should tell someone or whether asking for support somehow means they aren't cut out for the job.

We cannot put that entire responsibility on them.

“Let us know if you need anything” is not a support system

I have heard some version of this after difficult situations throughout my career: “My door is always open.” “Let us know if you need anything.” “Here's the EAP number if anyone wants it.”

Those statements come from a good place. They are certainly better than silence. But they also put almost all of the responsibility on the person who may be struggling. To access support, that person first has to recognize that they need it. They have to decide that whatever they are experiencing is significant enough. They have to know whom to contact, initiate the conversation and potentially disclose something deeply personal to a supervisor, all while wondering whether asking for help will change how coworkers or leadership see them.

That is a lot of barriers between a person and support.

A system works differently. A system decides before the emergency who checks in. A system gives supervisors guidance about what happens after an incident. A system identifies trained peer-support resources. A system knows when peer support is appropriate and when someone may need to be connected with additional professional resources. A system follows up instead of assuming that no news is good news, and it recognizes that support may be needed beyond the people whose names appear at the top of an incident report.

Most importantly, a system does not require someone to be visibly falling apart before anyone pays attention.

This is one of the reasons ILCIRA's work around Resilience First Aid is so important to this larger conversation. Resilience First Aid helps move us upstream. Instead of waiting until someone is experiencing a crisis and then trying to figure out what support should look like, we can build knowledge, connection and resilience into our organizations beforehand. We can help leaders and staff recognize that mental health and resilience belong in our everyday safety culture, not only in the conversation after something traumatic happens.

That matters because psychological preparedness is not one program, one training or one phone number. Resilience First Aid, trained peer support, Critical Incident Stress Management resources, professional mental health services and good organizational leadership can all occupy different places within a larger system of support.

The goal is not to choose one. The goal is to build the system.

Peer support fills a space that aquatics desperately needs

Think about who aquatic professionals often want to talk to after a difficult shift. Frequently, it is another aquatic professional. There is something different about talking with someone who already understands the environment. They know what it means to sit in an elevated chair scanning hundreds of people. They know how quickly a normal afternoon can turn into an emergency. They understand what a whistle cutting through a pool sounds like when something is actually wrong. They understand the strange combination of adrenaline, responsibility and uncertainty that can accompany a rescue.

You do not have to spend the first half of the conversation explaining the job.

That shared understanding can create connection, which is one reason peer support can be so valuable. But it is important to distinguish peer support from simply having caring coworkers. Informal support from colleagues absolutely matters. Trained peer supporters, however, have additional tools and boundaries. They learn how to listen without trying to fix everything, how to avoid imposing their own experience onto someone else's, how to recognize when someone may need additional resources and, importantly, where their own role ends.

Peer supporters are not therapists. They do not diagnose. They do not force someone to talk through an incident. They do not determine whether someone is “okay,” and they do not replace licensed mental health professionals, Employee Assistance Programs or emergency mental health resources when those are appropriate.

Peer support is another layer in the system.

And sometimes good peer support means talking considerably less than we think.

Many of us enter helping professions because we want to solve things. Someone tells us about a difficult experience and we immediately reach for reassurance. “You did everything you could.” “Don't blame yourself.” “I'm sure it will get easier.” “Try not to think about it.” We are trying to help, but sometimes we are also trying to make the discomfort disappear because we don't know what else to do with it.

One concept we use in this work is WAIT: Why Am I Talking? It is a wonderfully simple check for anyone supporting another person. Am I talking because this person needs information? Am I offering something genuinely useful? Or am I talking because silence feels uncomfortable and I want to fill it?

Peer support does not require a perfect sentence that makes a difficult experience disappear. Listen. Ask what the person needs. Avoid assumptions. Help connect them with appropriate resources. Stay within your role. Sometimes support is simply making sure another person knows they are not navigating the experience by themselves.

Support the whole team, not just the rescuer

Aquatics also has a tendency to identify the “primary responder” after an incident and focus attention there. That person certainly matters, but they may not be the only person affected. The lifeguard who started CPR may be affected. So may the guard who called 911, the supervisor who managed the scene, the staff member who moved children away from the area, the employee who knew the victim, the manager who spoke with the family or the coworker who arrived halfway through the response and felt helpless.

Someone who was not directly involved may also be affected because the incident connects to something in their own life. We cannot predict everyone's response based on their assigned EAP role.

This is another reason psychological preparedness needs to be an organizational responsibility rather than an individual wellness assignment. We need systems flexible enough to recognize the broader team without assuming everyone needs the same intervention. Some people may want peer support. Some may want space. Some may benefit from additional professional support. Some may experience little lasting distress at all.

Our job is not to prescribe a reaction. Our job is to make appropriate support available.

Build the system before you need it

Imagine an aquatic director sitting in an office immediately after a serious incident. EMS has transported the patient. Staff statements need to be collected. Senior leadership wants information. Someone is communicating with the family. Staff are asking whether they should stay. Parents are asking whether the pool will reopen. Tomorrow's schedule still exists.

Now imagine that this is the first time the organization asks who should support the staff.

Who do we call? Do we have peer supporters? Should everyone go home? Who follows up tomorrow? What do we tell the parents of teenage employees? Do we contact the EAP? What if someone doesn't want to talk? Who checks on the supervisor? What happens before these employees return to duty?

That is not the ideal moment to design the system.

We understand this principle perfectly when it comes to physical emergency preparedness. Nobody suggests waiting until a cardiac arrest happens to decide where to put the AED. We identify the equipment, train people to use it, establish procedures and practice before we need any of it.

Psychological preparedness deserves that same forethought.

That is also where I see Resilience First Aid fitting so naturally into aquatic safety culture. RFA gives us an opportunity to build skills and resilience before the critical incident. Peer support gives us another way to create connection and support around people when difficult experiences occur. CISM resources provide additional options following critical incidents. Professional mental health care exists when needs extend beyond the scope of peers or supervisors.

These things should not exist as disconnected programs. They can become layers of one intentional support system.

Your Emergency Action Plan should have an “after”

Pull out your Emergency Action Plan and look at where it ends.

Aquatic organizations are often incredibly specific about everything leading up to EMS arrival. We identify who recognizes the emergency, who activates the EAP, who makes the rescue, who retrieves equipment, who calls 911, who meets EMS, who clears the pool and who completes documentation.

Then the plan can become remarkably vague.

“Provide support to staff as needed.”

What does that actually mean?

Who provides it? When does it happen? Who makes contact the next day? What happens when the person who needs support is the supervisor? What if someone initially says they're fine and then realizes three days later that they're struggling? What resources are available? Does anyone on your team actually know how to access them?

This does not mean turning an EAP into a mental health treatment plan. It means acknowledging that staff care belongs in incident recovery.

The same is true for supervisors. Aquatic leaders are often expected to become the support system for everyone else immediately after an incident while simultaneously managing the operational response. They may be checking on lifeguards, communicating with leadership, handling documentation, talking with risk management, addressing staffing and interacting with families or emergency personnel.

They may also have participated in or witnessed the incident themselves.

Leadership does not make someone immune to its impact. A support system that depends entirely on the manager eventually leaves the manager unsupported.

The culture before the incident matters

There is another reason we cannot start this work after something bad happens. If the first time an organization tells employees that it is okay to talk about mental health is after a traumatic incident, staff may have a hard time believing it.

Culture is built on ordinary days.

What happens when a lifeguard says they are overwhelmed during a normal shift? How does leadership respond when someone asks for a break? What happens when a staff member makes a mistake during training? Can employees comfortably say, “I don't know what to do”? Can a young lifeguard ask a supervisor for help without feeling incompetent? Do managers check in when nothing dramatic has happened?

This is another connection to Resilience First Aid that I think is particularly important. Resilience is not simply the ability to endure increasingly difficult things without being affected. Building resilience includes connection, support, skills, resources and environments where people can recognize when they or someone around them may need help.

If we want employees to use support after a critical incident, we need to make support normal before the critical incident.

You cannot manufacture psychological safety in the parking lot after an emergency if the workplace culture has spent the previous six months teaching people to keep problems to themselves.

Five questions to take back to your organization

You do not have to build the perfect peer-support program tomorrow. You can start by getting your leadership team around a table and asking five questions: Who supports our staff after a critical incident? How would an employee actually access that support? Who follows up after the first day? What happens when peer support isn't enough? And who supports the supervisors and leaders responsible for everyone else?

If the answers are vague, that is useful information. If your answer is simply “EAP,” pull up the EAP information and make sure it is current. If your answer is “the manager checks on everyone,” ask who checks on the manager. If you have trained peer supporters, make sure employees actually know they exist. If you don't, consider whether developing a peer-support network makes sense for your organization or whether connecting with an existing aquatic peer-support resource would be more realistic.

Then look even further upstream. Who on your team has received Resilience First Aid? How are you talking about resilience and psychological preparedness during normal staff training? Do employees know what resources exist before they need them? Could psychological preparedness become part of your regular safety conversations in the same way you talk about scanning, rescue readiness and emergency response?

Those are tangible places to start.

Building support across the aquatic industry

This is the work ILCIRA is continuing to build within aquatics. Through Resilience First Aid, CISM for Aquatic First Responders, AqCIRT peer support, education and post-incident resources, we are working toward an aquatic industry where psychological preparedness is treated as part of safety rather than something separate from it.

The goal is not to turn aquatic supervisors into therapists or lifeguards into mental health professionals. It is not to pathologize normal responses to difficult experiences or suggest that everyone involved in a critical incident will experience trauma. The goal is preparation.

We want leaders to know what resources exist before they need them. We want peers to understand how to support one another without stepping outside their role. We want organizations to think beyond the immediate emergency response and consider what happens to their people afterward. And we want aquatic professionals to know that accessing support is not evidence that they could not handle the job.

Aquatics has always been built around people watching out for other people. That is quite literally what we train lifeguards to do. Our responsibility should not stop when they climb out of the water.

As we move through 2027, ILCIRA's challenge to aquatic organizations is relatively simple: build your support system before you need it. Review the “after” in your Emergency Action Plan. Identify your resources. Train your leaders. Explore Resilience First Aid. Understand what trained peer support can and cannot do. Make sure employees know where support exists and remember to include the supervisors who are so often responsible for taking care of everyone else.

Because the strongest time to introduce someone to their support system is not after the hardest shift of their career. It is now.

Learn More About Resilience First Aid

Our Resilience First Aid for Aquatic Professionals course introduces practical, evidence-informed strategies that leaders and frontline staff can immediately apply within their organizations. Participants will learn how to recognize early signs of stress, strengthen protective factors, support coworkers through challenging situations, and foster a workplace culture where resilience is an everyday practice rather than an afterthought.

About the Author

Kate Connell, CPRP, is an aquatic leader with over 15 years of experience. In addition to her role as Senior Manager of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at HydroApps, Kate works to build safer, more inclusive aquatic environments through her business, Equitable Aquatics. You can connect with Kate at kateconnell@hydroapps.com. 

Are you interested in submitting a blog post? Reach out to Kirsten at kirsten@aquaticpros.org to share your idea and learn more about the AOAP Blog.