International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
By: Dennis Potter, MSW, FAAETS
As people consider starting a CISM team, there are some guidelines that you might review to assist you in moving forward. These were first developed by Jeff Mitchell and placed in the Second Edition of the Group Crisis Intervention Workbook. I have added some of my thoughts and experiences along the way for your consideration. These steps are laid out in sequence, but you can proceed in the fashion that works for your community. If all these guidelines are addressed, you should be able to function well as a CISM team.
Step One: Identify the need for the CISM team.
Why do you think your agency/community needs a CISM team? What kind of events have or are happening that are affecting the personnel you hope to serve? Based upon these identified needs, a rationale for the team’s existence should both pragmatically and theoretically emerge.
Step Two: State the Mission and goals of the team in a written statement.
Clearly state the purpose of the team and the constituency to be served by the team. Are you going to be a team that serves the general community, or First Responders, or just your agency? Are you going to be an in-house peer team or external and independent?
Clearly state that you are adopting the ICISF models of intervention for your team. (there are many models of crisis intervention; the ICISF model is recognized as the most widespread around the world and best-established model)
Clearly state that all information shared during any intervention by team members will be held confidential.
Step Three: Determine how the team will be legally constituted.
Are you within an existing organization? You will need to get approval from the leadership of the organization. You must get buy-in for the uses of the team and the confidentiality of information shared during interventions.
Are you going to be a group of volunteers? You will need to set standards for being able to join the team. This usually means that all members have had the ICISF training in Group and Individual Crisis Intervention as a minimum standard. It is helpful to have written expectations of team members, so they understand their responsibilities.
How are you going to operate? It is important to write procedures for the team functioning.
How are you going to “market your team” to those who you wish to serve?
Are you going to become a Limited License Corporation? Some teams chose to become a corporation (see legal advice below). This may help in obtaining grants or opening a bank account.
Are you going to apply to become a non-profit corporation? Some teams chose to become a non-profit which allows them to accept charitable donations.
Step Four: Obtain legal counsel to operationally define issues such as malpractice, standards of care, confidentiality, “good Samaritan” practices, necessary liability insurance coverage, etcetera.
Step Five: Determine how the team will be funded.
Step Six: Delineate guidelines for team membership and the specific roles to be performed.
Step Seven: Determine what criteria and mechanisms will be used to activate the team.
Step Eight: Stipulate guidelines and procedures for follow-up for team members after a crisis response.
Step Nine: Create a clear, practical operating manual which contains policies and procedures, and which addresses all the aforementioned issues.
You will no doubt run up against situations that the above article does not cover. Please contact the ICISF or the author, for assistance when you hit the road bumps. We want to be helpful.
Coming Soon! ICISF will have a digital CISM Team Registry database so that NEW teams can register and CISM teams already listed will be able to update their information. Contact [email protected].
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