Crisis intervention and critical incident stress management
Crisis Intervention is not counselling or psychotherapy, it is a specialised mental health intervention which requires specialist training. It is sometimes referred to as ‘emotional first aid’ .
Mags Beardow has undertaken the CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS MANAGEMENT (CISM): Group Crisis Interventions training which is Accredited by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. This means she is trained to undertake group critical incident stress debriefings, crisis management briefings and defusings after a critical incident or workplace crisis.
Whilst you may consider that workplaces aside from the emergency services profession are unlikely to experience a critical incident or crisis that is not always the case. Some of the reasons you may consider calling in a crisis management response expert is after the suicide of a colleague, a workplace serious injury, accidental death in the workplace, events which attract press attention or any other significant event where considerable emotional distress could be caused to the people who have witnessed it.
The priority after a critical incident or crisis is the timeliness of response for the first intervention. The response should be rapid. The critical incident responder is trained to decide depending on the type of group (known or unknown to each other), the exposure to the incident and the time elapsed since the incident took place as to the appropriate type of CISM (critical incident stress management) package that should take place. They are also trained to undertake the necessary crisis intervention techniques within the CISM response package.
If you are interested in putting together a CISM plan for the future or wish Mags to advise on and undertake a CISM after a critical incident or crisis please contact her here putting CISM Request as the subject in your heading. Every effort will be made to respond to your request within 12 hours.
Please note: Due to the nature of CISM Mags can only provide this service within a 25 mile radius of Halifax and travel time to and from the incident location will be charged for in addition to the hourly on site rate.
Please contact Kathy for further information.