Critical Incident Stress Management Training

Overview

Critical incident stress management (CISM) training programs are designed for such professionals as police, firefighters, emergency medical workers, mental health professionals and military personnel. The programs include stress reduction techniques for people involved in highly critical incidents. Trainees go through such procedures as one-on-one support, education, family support and peer support to help victims of highly stressful incidents return to their daily lives without experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Types of Critical Incidents

Some of the incidents that can lead to critical incident stress are line-of-duty deaths, a colleague's suicide, work-related injury, multiple casualties of disaster and terrorism incidents, threats to workplace personnel, significant events involving children or events that garner excessive media attention.

Crisis Intervention System Components

According to leading CISM authorities Drs. George S. Everly, Jr. and Jeffrey T. Mitchell of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, a crisis intervention system should consist of multiple components. Pre-crisis preparation consists of stress management education and crisis mitigation training for individuals and organizations. Disaster incidents focus on school and community support programs. Defusing techniques are structured small-group discussions that take place within hours of a crisis to plan ways to mitigate the incident during the following crucial hours.

Follow-up

Debriefing training is designed to provide post-crisis care and the need for closure following an incident. One-on-one crisis intervention and counseling, family crisis intervention, follow-up assessment and treatment round out the training program.

Teamwork

Professionals and volunteers in a CISM program are often trained to be part of a team, working together with peers and outside professionals. Peer members might be part of an emergency department team that may include emergency technicians, nursing staff and physicians. Training is designed so that a team that is perhaps composed of hospital staff, local law enforcement, mental health professionals and clergy can work closely together in the aftermath of a traumatic event.

Immediate Response

A team should be sufficiently staffed to adequately respond within 24 to 48 hours of a crisis incident, according to Drs. Bhrett McCabe and Edwin D. Boudreaux in Psychiatric Services (December 2000), a publication of the American Psychiatric Association. In many cases, local teams may train with teams in other areas to form regional groups that can work collaboratively during a crisis.