International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc.
By: Scott Burke, Ulster County Sheriff’s Office/Corrections Division CISM Team Member
I have been a Corrections Officer for eighteen and a half years, and served on my Department’s CISM Team for about five years. I have worked with individuals and groups to help them to adjust and heal after an incident. While no two people are the same, there is usually one of three types of person we encounter.
The first I’ve seen is the type that is in “extreme grief”. Whether in training, or the real world application, this type is a fairly obvious individual to identify. Little, basic communication, drawn face and body, slumped stance and an unwillingness to engage, even when asking for help. Our training leads us to try and guide this this type of person to a place where they can begin to heal, and try to return to normal. While not an overnight process, we can try to get this type to acknowledge and understand that grief doesn’t always mean failure. Grief is loss, regardless of how one came to it, fought it and tried to win. Accepting that loss is accepting that we cannot win all the time, and we cannot allow one incident to ruin our willingness to try again.
The second type I have encountered is the “associate”. These are people that have been indirectly involved, but were not directly invested in the incident, perhaps contributing in other, supporting roles when the incident occurred. We do not really identify a grief issue, but more of a feeling of guilt, as if the contribution they provided wasn’t enough, “I could’ve done more” feeling. These people, in my experience, need to find their way to a place of self-realization that what they did was what they trained for. The responsibilities in an incident vary widely, and need to be met. No one person can do it all. Encouragement and reassurance, for the most part, seems to be what this type of person needs. Confirmation that the work they do is valid, and needs to continue.
The third, and final, type of person I’ve experienced is what I call the “egocentric”. This type always wants attention, regardless of the situation. Involvement in the incident could have been direct or peripheral, but the person’s desire to be addressed manifests quickly around new people (i.e. CISM Responders). The person will utilize a louder than normal, continuous stream of speech that is self-centered and only descriptive of the person’s own performance, rarely acknowledging other people’s contributions. This type normally needs constant feedback, and the more positive, the better.
In the time I have been performing CISM duties, the common thread I have seen is that the incident, from any point of view, must take precedence. Getting a grieving person to acknowledge loss, confirming an associate’s actions were effective, directly or indirectly, or assuaging an egocentric’s basic need for attention. Getting to the core of the incident, and bringing people to a place where healing has a chance to begin, is always the main goal. While our training is fairly general in nature, it is the application to specific people that helps it to work. Knowing we need to modify our approach to each individual may be second nature to some, and a new idea to others. Letting experience dictate the approach and practicing it is essential to connecting enough to people so they can realize that an incident can affect them, but does not have to define them. Helping people heal is our mission, from Team leader to *“rabbit”, and identifying what type of person, or people, we are helping will narrow our approach in applying our skills and training.
I cannot say I enjoy doing CISM work, but I do get a level of satisfaction in knowing that I have helped people in some way. I feel like this is how we take care of ourselves and each other. STAY SAFE, STAY HEALTHY, AND FIND THE BALANCE.
*The term “Rabbit” is used for the person who will follow an individual that leaves a debrief. The reasoning is that an individual may be overcome with emotion, and not be able to engage in a group discussion, and may require individual intervention, or simply observation to ensure the individual remains safe, until return to the group or an individual debrief can be arranged.
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