Soldier Peer Mentoring Care and Support: Bringing Psychological Awareness to the Front

Abstract

Since the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991, the operational tempo for soldiers has steadily increased, whereas the numbers of soldiers available to fulfill these missions has decreased. As a result, soldiers and their families are experiencing increased levels of stress that continue to manifest in ways that can often be destructive for the soldiers, their families, and the Army community. Current mitigation and identification support systems such as the Chain of Command, noncommissioned officer leadership, chaplains, and family support systems have all provided critical services, but may not be expected to optimally perform necessary early risk management assessment. Behavioral health care as a self-referral system is often still perceived as career ending, shameful, or even culturally unacceptable. Our allies have also experienced similar family, operational, and combat concerns. In 1996, at the direction of their Commandant General, the British Royal Marines developed and instituted a peer-driven risk management and support system that has experienced a high degree of success and acceptance among its forces-enough so that the Royal Navy is now in the process of implementing a similar program. The Soldier Peer Mentoring and Support program, as part of the proposed deployment Cycle Support Program, is a model for peer group assessment based on the British Royal Marines psychological risk management and support system. This article presents and describes this project, which has been considered for use within the U.S. Army, as a potential augmenter of existing behavioral health support assets as a culturally acceptable, company-level support program in deployment and home stations.

Deployment-related mental health support: comparative analysis of NATO and allied ISAF partners

“…Most partners had some sort of peer support groups/networks in place. The opinion was that good peer support, with trained peers liaising with MH professionals, was found crucial in a good support system (Keller et al, 2005; Pfeiffer et al, 2012). As it is rooted in the military context, it is thought to be helpful in diminishing the remaining stigma around having MH issues and offers a lower barrier to care.…”

Provider and Nonprovider Sources of Mental Health Help in the Military and the Effects of Stigma, Negative Attitudes, and Organizational Barriers to Care

“…Recently, military efforts to emphasize and incorporate these sources of help have been suggested, such as a "collaborative intervention" model that promotes the merging of expertise between medical officers and chaplains to treat psychological problems (22). Other programs that incorporate peer support (23)(24)(25) or family support (26) show promise to provide effective and favorable options for returning soldiers. Barriers to care affect soldiers' decisions to seek help (13,20).…”

A Scoping Study of One-to-One Peer Mentorship Interventions and Recommendations for Application With Veterans With Postdeployment Syndrome

“…Exclusion criteria were operationalized as follows: (1) the relationship was a preexisting or familial one; (2) the target audience was healthcare professionals or students who were not identified as having any particular illness or condition; (3) the intervention was group based; (4) the intervention was based on the Internet in a chat room or listserv format; and (5) the intervention was aimed at caregivers. 3,5 It should also be noted that several relevant peer-based programs were also 264 JOURNAL OF HEAD TRAUMA REHABILITATION/JULY-AUGUST 2012 excluded because they are not described in the scientific literature. All studies specified that participants be 18 years or older, although there were several examples of effective use of peers with adolescents.…”

“…4 Peer-based screening for early risk factors is being introduced within troops with the hope that early identification and support within troops will ultimately decrease stigma. 5,6 Peer-based programs have been established in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) 7,8 and in many consumer organizations that support Veterans, such as the Amputation Coalition, the Wounded Warrior Project, Survivor Corps, and Vets-4-Vets. However, the systematic publication of evaluation of these programs is lagging behind their clinical implementation.…”