Frequently asked questions

Yes. Confidentiality is the foundation of everything we do, not a feature we added later. SafeHavenMD is institution-independent, which means we are not contracted by hospitals, health systems, employers, or licensing boards. No one pays us to report on you. There is no employer dashboard, no surveillance metric, no name shared upstream. When you reach out, you are reaching out to a fellow physician, not to a system that owes anyone a status update.

The only exceptions are the same narrow ones that apply to any peer support: imminent risk of harm to yourself or another person. Outside those situations, your name does not leave the conversation.

This is the most common fear physicians raise before they reach out. It is also the right fear to ask about, and the answer is the same every time. Confidential, and built that way on purpose.

Nothing from a SafeHavenMD conversation is documented in your medical record. We do not keep clinical files, generate intake summaries, or transmit notes to other providers. Peer support is a conversation, not a chart entry.

Internally, the only person who sees the substance of your conversation is the peer supporter you spoke with. Aggregated, fully de-identified data may inform program improvements. Nothing that could be traced back to you is ever shared.

If you choose to access clinical care through our partner Tend Health, that is a separate, voluntary step. You decide what gets shared between the two services. SafeHavenMD never makes that decision for you.

This is the worry we hear most often, and it is the one that keeps physicians silent the longest. Here is what is true: SafeHavenMD does not report to medical boards. Peer support is not a clinical evaluation, so it does not generate a diagnosis, a treatment record, or a file that could be requested by a board.

Your reputation, your license, and your livelihood are not on the table when you speak with a peer here.

If you are navigating an active board matter or a Physician Health Program (PHP) referral, your peer supporter can help you think through it as a colleague, not as a representative of any institution. For state-specific licensing questions, we recommend consulting an attorney who works with physicians, and we can point you toward trusted referrals.

Institution-independent means SafeHavenMD is not owned, funded, or directed by any hospital, health system, EAP, or workplace wellness program. Many physician-support resources sit inside the institutions they are meant to serve, which puts physicians in the position of trusting the same employer they are worried about.

We sit outside that. Funding comes from independent sources. Our peer supporters are physicians, not hospital staff. Nothing we do is reported to your workplace.

This is the wedge between SafeHavenMD and most physician wellness programs. We have no organisational reason to know your name, and no contractual obligation to share it. The space we offer is structurally separate from the systems most physicians are trying to keep their distance from.

Peer support at SafeHavenMD is a one-on-one conversation with another physician, someone who has practised medicine, understands the weight of what you carry, and has been trained to listen without judgement. It is not therapy and it is not a clinical evaluation. A typical conversation lasts 30 to 60 minutes, with no enrolment quota, no curriculum, and no forced follow-up. The peer supporter's job is to be a steady, empathetic presence as you think clearly, name what is hard, and decide what you want to do next.

Matching is intentional but light-touch. When you reach out, we ask a small number of questions about your specialty, career stage, and the broad shape of what you would like to talk about. We use that to pair you with a peer who can meet you where you are, for example, an emergency physician with another emergency physician who has navigated burnout, or a trainee with a peer who remembers residency clearly. If a match doesn't feel right, you can ask for a different one with no explanation needed.

You schedule confidentially through our website and choose a time that works. At the scheduled time you connect with your peer, usually by video, by phone if you prefer. There are no intake forms, no diagnostic checklists, and no consent-to-share documents. The conversation begins with a fellow physician asking how you are, and meaning it.

If you are in immediate crisis, meaning you are at risk of harming yourself or someone else, please reach out to one of these now:

988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline). Call or text, available 24/7.

Physician Support Line: 1-888-409-0141. Staffed by volunteer psychiatrists, free and confidential, no records, available daily.

SafeHavenMD is not a crisis service. We are peer support for the conversation that helps before the moment becomes a crisis, and the follow-up that helps after. If you are safe and want to talk, we are here. If you are not safe, please use the lines above first.

You are not alone. People are awake and waiting for your call.

Yes. Substance use is one of the most common, and most quietly carried, issues physicians bring to peer support. You can talk about your own use, your worries about a colleague, or the in-between zone where you are not sure yet. None of it is reported to a board, an employer, or a Physician Health Program.

We are careful about language. SafeHavenMD speaks about a person with a substance use disorder, not the older stigmatising terms. The distinction matters. It is the difference between addressing a person and reducing them to a label.

If you are navigating an active PHP referral or want to think through what formal recovery support might look like, your peer supporter can help you map options. If you choose to access clinical care, our Tend Health partnership offers a confidential bridge, and you decide if and when to step toward it.

Recovery is rarely a straight line, and it is almost never something physicians are willing to navigate publicly. SafeHavenMD's role is the steady, confidential layer underneath whatever recovery you choose, whether that is a formal program, a 12-step community, individual therapy through Tend Health, or simply a colleague to talk to as you find your footing.

We do not require disclosure. We do not require commitment to any particular path. We do not document your conversations. The peer supporter you speak with may have walked a similar road, and they will speak as a colleague, not as a representative of any treatment system.

For ongoing recovery, we can help you connect to resources such as Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP)-recognised PHPs in your state, or to non-PHP routes if that fits your situation better.

Peer support conversations through SafeHavenMD are free for physicians. There is no membership fee, no per-session cost, and no credit card required to schedule.

This is intentional. The cost barriers many physicians associate with seeking help, like billing, insurance claims, and employer notifications, are exactly the friction we are designed to remove. SafeHavenMD is funded through independent sources so that you never have to weigh whether the conversation is worth the price.

If you choose to access clinical care through our Tend Health partnership, that is a separate path with its own cost structure, which Tend Health explains transparently before any commitment.

SafeHavenMD is built for practising physicians, residents, and fellows, primarily in the United States, where our peer supporters are licensed and where the Tend Health partnership operates. If you are training or practising outside the US, please reach out anyway. We will be honest with you about whether we can help directly or whether a different resource is a better fit.

We are not currently structured for medical students, but we are happy to point you toward organisations whose remit extends further upstream, including the Emotional PPE Project's network and physician-aligned student wellness resources.

Visit safehavenmd.com and select the option to schedule a peer support conversation. You will provide a small amount of information, enough to match you well, no more, and choose a time that works.

If you would prefer to read more before reaching out, the /how-it-works page walks through every step, and the /crisis-resources page lists national hotlines and physician-specific resources. If you have a question this FAQ doesn't answer, send it through the contact form. A real physician reads every message.

Tend Health is a confidential, physician-focused mental healthcare provider. They offer the clinical care that peer support is not designed to deliver, including therapy, psychiatry, medication management, and structured recovery programs.

The partnership matters because peer support has a clear ceiling. Some physicians need clinical care immediately, and there are situations where waiting is not safe. Tend Health is the right next step the moment that line is crossed. Our partnership, announced in 2026 and covered in BusinessWire and Morningstar, exists to remove the most common reason physicians stall at that line, which is, "I'd like to talk to someone, but I don't know who."

With Tend Health, the bridge is built. You do not have to find your own clinician, navigate insurance, or risk a name reaching your hospital. The pathway is confidential, physician-aware, and direct.

You decide if and when to step onto it, and SafeHavenMD never refers you against your wishes. But when peer support is not enough, Tend Health is what comes next. It is not a substitute for SafeHavenMD, it is a critical complement, and for some physicians it is the path that protects both your life and your career.

If, in the course of a peer conversation, you decide that clinical care would help, your peer supporter can introduce you to Tend Health. Introduction means a soft handoff, a connection on your timing, with no pressure to follow through.

Tend Health takes care of intake, scheduling, and clinical care delivery. Their model is built around physician-specific needs: confidentiality, licensing-aware guidance, and clinicians who understand medical training.

For some situations the timing matters. If your peer supporter senses that what you are describing needs clinical care without delay, they will say so plainly and walk you to the Tend Health intake themselves. You remain in control throughout, but we will not pretend a peer conversation is enough when it isn't.

If you change your mind, your peer supporter remains your peer supporter. The two services are separate by design, connected when it helps you, not before.

Most physicians do, and the FAQ above cannot anticipate every concern. Send us your question through the contact form on safehavenmd.com. A physician will read it. If your question is one many physicians share, we will add it here.

If you are not ready to ask, that is also okay. Read about the Tend Health partnership. Read the founder's story. Come back when the moment is right.