Critical Incident Stress Debriefing

Programs that help individuals (e.g., paramedics, police officers, disaster workers) who have been involved in emergency operations under conditions of extreme stress or people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as workplace or school violence recover from the traumatizing effects of the experience utilizing a therapeutic technique which enables them to process the event and put it behind them. A CISD enables workers and others to discuss what happened, their role in the event, the impact of the experience and skills for coping with the after effects. A CISD will generally alleviate the acute stress responses which sometimes appear at the scene or immediately thereafter and will at least inhibit delayed stress reactions which can appear days, weeks or even months later.