What is Critical Incident Stress Management?


 

CISM is the overall process of crisis intervention in the event of a critical incident. A critical incident occurs when normal people are exposed to abnormal situations. Through the use of peer support and trained staff, the event is discussed, or "debriefed". This helps to provide a framework of the incident, as well as an opportunity to process various reactions. A certain amount of healing occurs; those involved realize that many of the signs and symptoms they are experiencing are normal reactions to stress. This helps to speed the recovery process and helps with prevention of long term consequences from profound stress. CISM is not psychotherapy, but team members are trained to make referrals to more qualified personnel as needed. Follow up is provided 7-10 days post-debriefing to determine if further assistance is needed.

CISM Response Team - SKEMS – Region II

  • Debbie Pierce - 620-649-2190

  • Debbie Brown - Home: 620-675-8799, Work: 620-675-8291

Ten Basic Interventions of CISM

  • Pre-incident stress

  • On scene support

  • Individual consults

  • Significant other support

  • Specialty debriefings

  • Informal discussions

  • Follow up services

  • Demobilization

  • Defuseings

  • Debriefings

We will coordinate CISM sessions for your system and staff and we will provide CISM information programs and training upon request.

General Questions Asked:

Who will be at the debriefing?

  • Attendance depends on the agencies involved in the incident. Generally, only those persons directly involved with the incident are allowed, along with a group of specially trained peers (co-workers). Media and supervisors that were not directly involved are not permitted at the debriefing.

How can I tell if I’m suffering from critical stress?

  • Each individual may show one or several symptoms following a traumatic incident. Some symptoms are constant fatigue, apathy, sleep disturbance, headaches or muscle aches, loss of energy or hyperactivity, nausea, ulcers, agitation, high blood pressure or an increase in alcohol intake or smoking.

Will I be critiqued?

  • A debriefing is not a critique. It provides an opportunity for those who participated in a critical incident to discuss their perception of the event and how it has affected them. There are support personnel on hand to insure that discussion remains productive to helping provide a mechanism for ventilation of feelings about the incident.

Why go if I’m not feeling affected by an incident?

  • The goal of a debriefing is to accelerate the normal recovery process and normal reactions following an abnormal event. By attending a debriefing, those who feel comfortable with the event can provide valuable support and guidance to those who were more impacted by the incident. No one is forced to speak. All information is voluntarily shared and is strictly confidential.

Sudden, Unanticipated Death
11 issues inherent in sudden, unanticipated death that complicate mourning:

  • The capacity to cope is diminished as the shock effects of the death overwhelm the ego.

  • The assumptive world is violently shattered without warning

  • The loss does not make sense, and cannot be understood or absorbed.

  • There is no chance to say good-bye and finish unfinished business

  • Symptoms of acute grief and of physical and emotional shock persist for a prolonged period of time

  • The mourner obsessively reconstructs events in an effort both to comprehend the death and to prepare for it in retrospect.

  • The mourner experiences a profound loss of security and confidence in the world, which affects all areas of life.

  • The loss cuts across experiences in the relationship and tends to highlight what was happening at the time of the death.

  • The death tends to leave mourners with relatively more intense emotional reactions.

  • The death tends to be followed by a number of major secondary losses.

  • The death can provoke posttraumatic stress responses.


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