The Firefighters Support Foundation’s (FSF) newest free training programs are now available. Building a Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team and Questions About CISM and CISD (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing) are 45-minute and 25-minute long video presentations, respectively.
“Given the great investment that agencies have in each of their service members it makes sense, not just from an ethical, but even from a financial, perspective to insure that they remain high-functioning and healthy both to and through retirement,” says FSF President David Kenik. “We are delighted to bring insights from the world’s leading expert on CISM to public safety agencies, and to help those agencies that want to start a team learn how an extremely successful one got going.”
Peer to peer support, including the use of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), is a recognized vital practice in order to keep first responders healthy and productive. Setting up a CISM team composed of peer professionals is something that many organizations would like to do. Building a Critical Incident Stress Management Team profiles the San Mateo County (CA) CISM team, a highly successful interdisciplinary team. Providing insights are veteran team members from the firefighting, police, and communications services, the team Chaplin, and the team psychologist. Among the questions addressed are: What is CISM? How did the team get started? What obstacles did you run into and how did you overcome them? What are the advantages of an interdisciplinary team? What kind of person do you want on a team? What kind of person do you want to avoid?
Questions About CISM and CISD (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing) is presented by Dr. Jeffrey Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell is a Clinical Professor or Emergency Health Services at the University of Maryland and the President Emeritus of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. He address many of the questions that arise around CISM and CISD, including: What are CISM and CISD and how do they differ? Does CISM cure or prevent PTSD? Is CISD therapy? How is CISD performed? Does CISD retraumatize people? What are the results of CISM/CISD? How does CISM relate to other interventions?
These free programs are invaluable resources to service and management personnel with questions about CISM or CISD, or with a desire to start a team. They are free to all members of public safety and emergency management agencies. Simply watch in the viewer above or download the first video (Building a Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team) and the second ( Questions About CISM and CISD) HERE.
Send comments and feedback about these training programs to [email protected]. Please note: some Windows users may experience problems when downloading compressed files.
About the Firefighters Support Foundation
The Firefighters Support Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization dedicated to assisting firefighters, emergency management, EMS, and Search & Rescue personnel perform their jobs effectively and safely. They also set aside a portion of their funds to aid underfunded agencies and assist families of fallen firefighters.
