Critical Incident Stress Management

When requesting any CISM services from 8-4 M/F please call
(207) 877-0936

Weekends, Holidays, and after business hours please call
(207) 872-4000

(Please download a brochure at this link)

KVEMS recommends that Service Chief or a department officer make the official contact with KVEMS CISM. Please be prepared to provide the following when you call:

• Name of contact person
• Description of incident
• Agencies involved
• Number of persons attending
• Return telephone numbers

All providers involved in the incident should be encouraged to attend the debriefing.

The KVEMS CISM Team consists of volunteers who are formally trained using the Jeffrey Mitchell CISM training. These peer emergency personnel include EMS, Fire, Dispatch, Law Enforcement as well as local Mental Health Professionals.

Critical Incident Stress Management

The Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) process is available to any emergency service (ambulance, fire, first responders, police) or hospital personnel requesting the services of the CISM team within the Kennebec Valley Region. Trained emergency personnel encounter stressful events while performing their duties which unduly traumatize them and make further functioning in their role as an emergency care provider extremely difficult. The KVEMS CISM Team has been established to provide crisis intervention specifically designed to assist all emergency providers.

Any incident that EMS personnel face that causes them to experience unusually strong emotional involvement may qualify for critical incident debriefing. Following are examples of incidents that may require debriefings:

• Serious injury or death of an EMS worker (i.e., law enforcement personnel, fire fighters, health care responders). *
• Mass Casualty Incidents. *
• Suicide of a crew member. *
• Serious injury or death of a civilian resulting from EMS operations (i.e., auto accidents).
• Death of a child, or violence to a child. *
• Loss of life of a patient following extraordinary or prolonged physical and emotional energy expended during rescue efforts by EMS personnel.
• Incidents that attract extremely unusual or critical media coverage.
• Any incident that is charged with profound emotion.
• Any incident in which the circumstances were so unusual or the sights/sounds so distressing as to produce a high level of immediate or delayed emotional reaction.
  
  * High indicators for debriefings.

The KVEMS CISM Team members are formal trained to offer three forms of stress management. They are as follows:

One on One

The CISM Team members are available at anytime for a one on one meeting, allowing any emergency care provider to talk with a team member about a situation that is bothering him or her.

Defusings

This is a less formal version of a critical incident stress management. A defusing is given within a few hours of the incident, often lasting less than one hour, allowing for an initial ventilation of the reactions to the incident and is generally managed by peer support personnel. This, in most cases, eliminates the need for a formal debriefing. However, it still may be necessary to schedule a debriefing.

Formal Debriefing

Critical Incident Stress Debriefings are facilitated group meetings of emergency providers involved in a critical event. These debriefings assist emergency personnel in their ability to cope with the stress generated by the incident. A formal debriefing session is usually conducted 24 to 72 hours following an incident, but if necessary can be done at a later date.

Signs and Symptoms of Stress