CISM Background
Home Feedback Search MHMC

Montgomery County Critical Incident Stress Management Team

 

Home

What does a CISM Team do?

What is Critical Incident Stress (CIS)?

What is the goal of Critical Incident Stress Management?

Position on Other "Like" Organizations

What does a CISM Team do?

The Montgomery County CISM Team provides the following services:

1.      Pre-incident Education
2.      On-scene disaster support
3.      Disaster Demobilization and Post-incident Education
4.      Crisis Management Briefing
5.      Limited scope Defusing
6.      Formal Debriefing
7.      Family Support Services
8.   Assessment and Consultation Services
9.      Resource and Referral Network
10.    Mutual Aid with other teams

Click here to go to the "Services" page

In our long established team (since 1986), education and defusings are the mainstays of activity.  Other facets occur less frequently but are of no less importance.  A team member may choose to concentrate in one area and still be available for others.  The Montgomery County CISM Team has assisted with: mass casualty events, disasters, plane crashes, line-of-duty-deaths, serious injuries, pediatric deaths, and many other cases of no less importance.  All team members are required to attend the Basic CISM "Group Crisis Intervention" 16-hour training in order to participate in interventions.  Additional important courses include Individual Crisis Intervention and Peer Support.

What is Critical Incident Stress (CIS)?

Any event that has the ability to trigger strong emotional reactions in an emergency worker that brings about a change in function is a Critical Incident.  We emphasize that the emergency service provider is normal with normal reactions.  Only the event is abnormal.  Some events can predictably cause CIS such as a line-of-duty-death, life threatening experience or a disaster.  Even so, some events don’t bother everyone.  Likewise, seemingly innocuous events can cause strong cascades of reactions and emotions.

Similar reactions can occur in groups of ordinary citizens.  Called CIS or Acute Traumatic Stress, these reactions can also change the functioning of individuals and can cause great distress.  International and national events have clearly highlighted how these reactions affect people.

What is the goal of Critical Incident Stress Management?

The many members of the emergency services already sacrifice much to serve their fellow citizens.  The training is long and can be grueling.  Response to emergencies or employment in the field takes time away from family and friends (or primary occupations).  There is significant expense to self, or society, in the cost of training these individuals.  The emergency workers are many times exposed to things that the average civilian/layperson may only see on the big screen or in their nightmares.  There is also considerable personal risk of injury or death.  It takes a different type of person to be involved in this work. An end result of psychological traumatic exposures can be certain mental disorders principle of which is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  This disorder can render individuals less effective in their roles, or in the worse case scenario, cause their leaving the emergency work.  Less effective providers can put their co-workers or charges at risk. 

After having sacrificed and risked so much already, being emotionally scarred by their service is unfair to themselves, and their families, when it frequently can be avoided by interventions such as CISM.  Loss of emergency workers, and especially those that volunteer, is a loss of experience and training expense to society.  The emergency worker has a different psychological make-up than the average citizen.  This requires a different approach.  This is where CISM comes in.  In short, the CISM process lets the emergency worker know that there are people who care about them and helps ensure the emergency worker’s availability for future emergency needs in our society.

When it comes to the community at whole, bad events can cause great distress.  We cannot change that.  However, we can address the issues that cause increased distress.  This includes validation and normalization of feelings and reactions, dissemination of timely and appropriate information about the event, and ensuring that other organizations are addressing basic needs.  When these basic issues are not addressed, it is natural for people to over react.  When this happens, disorder can occur which increases the drain and strain on already stretched emergency and municipal services that are trying to deal with the primary event.

Position on Other "Like" Organizations

The Montgomery County CISM Team recognizes that there are other community-based organizations that already provide a similar group crisis response.  It is the intention of the CISM team to partner or network with these preexisting organizations to provide the most appropriate response by the most appropriate resource.  Examples of these other organizations include (but are not limited to):  The American Red Cross, Norristown Borough TRUST, Abington/Jenkintown/Upper Moreland SPIRIT, Western county chaplains group, etc.

 

 

Home ]

Send e mail to cismmontco_at_verizon_dot_net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2005-2011 Montgomery County Critical Incident Stress Management Team