Anything where you would value talking to a peer. This may cover topics such as: your psychological well being; life stressors and changes; relationship problems; fatigue; work/life balance; bereavement; sim check worries; work pressures; colleague concerns; career options; financial problems; health concerns; etc. The trained peers are there for you, your well being as a person and as a pilot. While they cannot act on your behalf, provide expert opinion, advice or even ‘fix’ your problem, what makes them especially qualified is that they are pilots like you. They have all had further/advanced training in supporting fellow pilots and they in turn are supported by a team of psychologists. They are willing to listen to you, understand your challenges and help you figure it out (or at least point you in the right direction).

Like most things, it is better to deal with problems and talk to others before they start to boil over. ​Things needn’t get to a crisis point before you contact us. In fact, the sooner you do, the better we can support you. Occasionally though, life can feel especially tough and overwhelming - and as a peer support network, that is what we are here for.

Once you have requested contact you will receive an email/text message confirming your contact request. ​The first Peer Volunteer to pick it up, will either text or email you (whichever preference you indicated) and arrange a suitable time to talk on the phone. ​​The initial conversation will be to understand how we can best help you - or which direction to point you in. You may have a specific request for guidance or information, or you may be seeking support on a particular challenge you are facing. Either way, we are here for you.

It is always better for people themselves to make contact with this service. However, sometimes they are too fearful to do so, or have lost perspective on the impact that this is having on their performance or those they work with. ​If you believe that their situation has an immediate safety implication, then you are obliged to act directly and contact your line manager or pilot helpline. However, if you believe the impact is more ‘slow burning’, cumulative or may put a less experienced or assertive colleague in a potentially difficult position, then we suggest discussing this through with a peer. ​To summarise, this is not about 'reporting' your colleague, this is about discussing it with a trained peer and together working out what your best course of action is. ​Having read this and find you still have concerns, contact us anyway: that is what we are here for!

No, we are not set up to deal with emergencies. If you think that your own (or someone else’s) safety is in immediate danger, please click here for your options.

If something isnt working for you, the only way we can fix it is if you let us know. Please direct your complaint to us (support@centreforaviationpsychology.com) and be assured that we will deal with it in a discrete and appropriate manner. However, if you believe this is not possible for some reason, you can always direct your complaint to the Psychological Advisor for Flight Safety (daniela.teuscher@swiss.com) or the Head of Flight Safety (Philipp.Spoerli@swiss.com) or Flight Operation Expert (Soroush.AliPanahi@flyedelweiss.com).

Once you have submitted a contact request, a message goes to all our peers indicating that there is a ‘contact request’. The first suitably available peer to login and pick up this request will see your contact details. No other peers will see your contact request or details. If the peers recognises your name as someone they know well (either personally or professionally), we believe that it is better that they do not pick up your contact request. The primary reason for this is to keep the boundaries as clear as possible and avoid any conflict of interest or prejudgments or assumptions on either person’s part. ​Remember that they will not know why you have requested contact. It may be for a range of reasons including seeking support for yourself or raising a concern about a colleague.

There is always a chance that you might know the peer volunteer who makes contact with you. ​For good and hopefully obvious reasons, we do not think that this is advisable and is to be avoided, if possible. If either of you discover that you do know each other beyond being vague work acquaintances, your peer will seek to transfer your contact to another peer.

As far as we can, we will seek to accommodate your preference. You can mention this in the first conversation following your contact request. As this may not always be possible, you can be assured though that our peers are trained to listen, be human and most importantly, not to judge those they are supporting.

All we want is a first name (it doesn't even need to be your real name, if you would prefer), your email address and a contact number. We need no other details.

As this is a Peer Support Programme, we want your first contact to be with a Swiss or Edelweiss pilot - and not a call centre operator. Given that they are working pilots too, it is not always possible to immediately connect you to one. However, they will do their best to respond to you as soon as is reasonable - and within your requested timeframe. ​​You can help us identify the level of need from your request: If you ask to be contacted within 12hrs, we will assume that it is urgent and will do what we can to respond as soon as possible. If you request to be contacted within 24hrs - we will assume your request is important, and not urgent. However, you would prefer to talk to someone sooner than later and we will respond to you within daytime hours. If you request to be contact within 48hrs - we will assume that whilst your request is important, you are happy for us to contact you during daytime hours, Monday - Friday.

If you know the peer once they have made contact with you and would prefer not to proceed, or you have already started and would like a different peer, you have two options: 1) let them know that you would prefer to speak to some one else; or 2) let the administrator know (support@centreforaviationpsychology.com) and they can reallocate a different peer to you.

After arranging a suitable time to talk with you, the first conversation with your peer will be to establish how they can best help you - either by supporting you directly or pointing you in the right direction.

No. As this is a peer support service, the aim is to support you make decisions and take action in resolving a particular problem or issue you are dealing with. Them doing it for you is seldom a wise solution.

No. They are not qualified nor in a position to decide on whether you are fit to fly. Even following your conversation, that decision remains your responsibility. ​However, as a peer they can help you work this out yourself and/or figure out your options and how best to progress them. This is what they are here for. Their role is to support you not only make this decision but be there for you following whatever decision you make.

Please remember this is peer support service - and not an expert information or advice centre. Your peer will be happy to share what they know and help where they can.

Your peer is supported by a clinical psychologist which they have access to, who in turn has access to a range of resources and channels. If for some reason, your peer can't help you, they will do their best to find out or direct you to someone who can.

You may not immediately receive this confirmation via email or text. However, when you click the submit button there will be a message confirming receipt on the screen. If you haven't heard anything within the requested time, please assume we haven't received it. ​​Please contact us. We will get back to you as soon as possible - however, it may be during office hours that we do.

I have a question that has not been answered here. Apologies - if you have a question, we'd love to hear it and we will do our best to answer it. ​ This FAQ is only as good as the questions posed. Please send it to us here.