Critical Incident Debriefing Services

Specialist, on-call counselling is required to address an event or cumulative events that have a stressful impact on employees. The impact of these events can overwhelm the usually effective coping strategies of either an individual or group.

Critical Incident Debriefing (CID) therefore aims to normalise responses to an abnormal incident whilst minimising the likelihood of post traumatic stress disorder.

Work-related traumas that require CID Intervention include:

• Any life threatening experience.
• Perception of serious threats to self or significant others.
• Death of a colleague / patient / client in the workplace.
• Accidents in the workplace (resulting in serious injury or death).
• Hold-up / robbery / homicide.
• Multiple injury/fatality accidents.
• Suicide of a family member, client or co-worker.
• Serious physical assaults / shootings.
• Significant, cumulative or prolonged abuse, harassment or bullying in the workplace.

How can Critical Incident Debriefing Help?

The timely provision of Critical Incident Debriefing can:

• Initiate the recovery process by providing a framework for the affected parties to understand their experiences.
• Educate the employee(s) in common responses to trauma, and provide advice about the process of recovery.
• Provide trauma management strategies for implementation in the workplace to support involved or affected staff.

How does Critical Incident Debriefing Work?

A critical incident response team is available 24 hours, 7 days a week. Incidents can occur at any time or location and this enables our team to respond quickly and effectively.

Immediate phone contact is made with your organisation to ascertain the type of incident, the number of debriefers required and timeframes for the intervention.

Individual confidentiality is maintained through the diffusing and debriefing process whether conducted on an individual or group basis.

Those individuals considered to be “at risk” of developing post traumatic stress responses are offered the EAP for ongoing support and their progress monitored in the post-incident period.

A CID report is routinely prepared following the debriefing process. This provides a summary of issues concerning staff and recommended strategies for the ongoing management of the incident to facilitate closure.

Click here to download our Critical Incident White Paper.