Peer debriefing ensures the trustworthiness of a qualitative research study. Through peer debriefing, the researcher explores the research design, data collection process, and data analysis while colleagues, serving as critical friends, encourage the researcher to examine the research process from multiple perspectives. This paper examines experiences in a peer debriefing group formed by five female teacher researchers as a part of their graduate requirements for doctoral work, and their continued association as they pursued their professional goals. Three themes emerged based on the analysis of team meeting minutes, reflective journal logs, and case reports constructed reflectively by the five participants. These were: (a) essential elements of a successful peer debriefing group are commitment, continuity, and individual expectations being met; (b) participation can serve as an important development step in preparation as a professional researcher and educator; and (c) academic and emotional support provided by a peer debriefing group is a motivating factor leading to researcher’s perceptions of success. These themes highlight the benefits of including peer debriefing as a part of the action research process of teacher researchers as a means of dealing with the ‘messiness’ that novice teachers researchers encounter when conducting action or self-study research.