Since establishing our Peer Advisory Committee (PAC) and holding our first meeting in May 2025, the PAC has been instrumental in shaping the direction and content of our Emotional First Aid training. Over five meetings and rounds of written feedback, members have guided our approach to ensure that the training reflects the realities of peers and frontline workers.
The committee includes diverse voices—over two-thirds with lived and living experience of substance use—and represents Indigenous, Queer, regional, and rural perspectives. These elements were identified by both our team and the PAC as essential to building an inclusive, relevant, and stigma-reducing program.

 

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

PAC members emphasized that peers with lived and living experience must be central to the design and delivery of the training. They encouraged framing the program through a harm reduction lens—normalizing active substance use, prioritizing psychological safety, and ensuring that accessibility measures go beyond compliance to meet participants’ real needs.

The PAC’s feedback consistently reflected the realities of the toxic drug supply crisis and the cumulative trauma experienced by peers and frontline workers. Discussions emphasized the importance of addressing grief, burnout, and systemic stressors such as service cuts and lack of housing, while providing practical tools to help participants sustain their well-being.

Members also reinforced the importance of valuing peer knowledge through fair compensation and inclusion. This feedback guided our decision to compensate participants for their time and insights during pilot sessions and feedback rounds, recognizing the essential expertise they bring to this work.

CULTURAL RELEVANCE AND INCLUSION

PAC feedback led to meaningful updates that make the training more culturally grounded and inclusive. Members advocated for the integration of Indigenous ways of knowing and cultural practices, as well as clearer language to address systemic inequities. Indigenous healing practices such as smudging and ceremony were included, and the Land Acknowledgment features Isaac Murdoch’s Bring Our Children Home, with permission, to recognize ongoing colonial trauma connected to the crisis.

SHAPING THE TRAINING EXPERIENCE

PAC input guided major design choices across content and format. The training is trauma-informed, interactive, and accessible—incorporating videos, discussion prompts, reflection exercises, and group activities. Modules are short and manageable for participants balancing heavy workloads, and materials are designed to be clear, culturally relevant, and translatable.

Members emphasized the importance of building practical skills that participants can use in their communities, such as breathing techniques, stress management tools, and strategies for returning to the window of tolerance after high-stress events. They also highlighted hope and empowerment as key themes, inspiring activities like “glimmers,” which focus on positive moments and the impact of peer work.

LASTING IMPACT

Beyond training design, the PAC has strengthened our program through outreach, advocacy, and community leadership. Members have identified new partnerships, expanded representation, and ensured that peer voices remain at the forefront of every stage of development.

Their insight and lived experience have made the Emotional First Aid training more inclusive, trauma-informed, and empowering—rooted in the realities of peer and frontline work today.