UCCS strives to promote health, wellbeing and a culture of care. One of the many initiatives to encourage this is the First Priority Peer Support Program, an evidence-informed resiliency and behavioral health initiative designed to help with stress, burnout, trauma and the other effects on wellbeing, especially within high-stress occupations.
“These can feel like heavy times for quite a lot of reasons,” said Nicole Weis, Director of Healing and Community Programs at the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience. “Peer Support offers a little light and a lot of space to be human. Peer Support has been shown to increase social support and resilience in organizations, reduce barriers to care, and create a strong sense of wellbeing, both personally and organizationally. A Peer Supporter is simply someone who gets it, who gives you a safer space to feel real emotions, and who can connect you to helpful resources when needed. It’s a connection we all need when connecting can feel hard.”
The First Priority Peer Support Program trains volunteers within an organization to become “Peer Supporters” by teaching them basic counseling and support skills and providing them with knowledge about stress and psychological trauma related to their occupation. With this training, these individuals can assist their peers with posttraumatic or occupational stress and guide them to an appropriate level of treatment when needed.
“We currently have 41 Peer Supporters,” noted Weis. “In 2025, we had 126 Peer Support contacts reported. Of those numbers, 27% were faculty members, 49% were staff and 24% were students. Support was provided to individuals in seventeen different colleges and departments, and resources including the Wellness Center, Disability services, mental health resources and other university resources were shared many times.”
Along with helping manage stressors, Peer Support reduces stigma and barriers to other supports such as professional services, can increase bonding of an organization or team and can extend individualized support and provide check ins on days, weeks and months after an event and be available to support and discuss stressors outside of such an event.
Visit the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience online to learn more about the program, its benefits and how to get involved.