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Critical Incident Stress Management

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Critical Incident Stress Management is a technique designed to assist victims of trauma work through the period immediately following the event. These techniques are used to aid victims of crime and tragedy, front-line emergency service providers, military personnel, and members of many other professions.

While there are varying schools of CISM practice, all work towards assisting the victim to restore a normal life as soon as possible, while reducing the chances they will suffer long-term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Page Index

International Resources, Australia, Canada, United States, Related Documents


International Resources

International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc: A well established worldwide organization which has trained personnel from law enforcement and military services from around the globe. They offer a wide variety of training programs dealing with psychological trauma and CISM. The organization also maintains a 24-hour/day hotline to match up trained CISM teams with emergency service personnel in need of their services.

International Institute of Traumatology and Crisis Intervention: The purpose of the Institute is the promotion of the science of traumatology and the allied field of crisis intervention. To this end, it seeks to be as inclusive as possible in these two areas, whilst at the same time ensuring that appropriate and proper standards are set and maintained for both.

Measures of Traumatic and Secondary Stress: A listing of clinical and research class tests for traumatic stress and secondary stress effects.

Suicide Information and Education Centre:  SIEC is a special library and resource centre providing information on suicide and suicidal behavior.  On their site you'll find resource and research data, links to useful sites and organizations, information on beginning or improving programs, a bibliography of materials on suicidal behavior and more.

Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN): SPAN primary objective are: Development, funding and evaluation for effective suicide prevention programs; Access to care and support for mental health problems and substance use disorders; A national research agenda reflecting the priorities of survivors and other involved stakeholders; Statewide plans for suicide prevention, based on community participation; Training and technical assistance for families and community activists working to promote and create suicide prevention programs; Training and technical assistance for professionals involved in suicide prevention and related work.

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Australia

Critical Incident Stress Management Foundation Australia: A non-profit organization, designed to assist emergency services and allied organizations in the prevention and management of critical incident stress. CISMFA adopts a particular model known as Critical Incident Stress Management, and embraces the philosophies, principles and practices of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation Inc.

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Canada

Canadian Traumatic Stress Network: The homepage of this organization, which also produces TraumaNews, a newsletter on and for Canadian trauma resources/professionals. Good links, and back issues of TraumaNews are online.

Canuckcare: A Canadian company that offers consulting, training and an extensive number of resources, books & videos specifically designed for victim service providers and all care givers. The site also offers a variety of useful links. 

New Brunswick Critical Incident Stress Management Program: Descriptions of this provincial service, including links to background information, web sites of interest, and government contacts.

SARBC Critical Incident Stress Page: A section of the Search And Rescue British Columbia site, this page offers excellent information on Critical Incident Stress; how to spot CIS in oneself or another, self-evaluation lifestyle and burnout quizzes, and sections on helping children and adolescents deal with disaster. Included are many links to other search-and-rescue and trauma/disaster related pages.

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United States

American Association of Suicidology: An extensive site containing contact and membership information, links to related sites and documents, and a listing of available publications.

Central Florida Police Stress Unit, Inc: The Central Florida Police Stress Unit, Inc. was established to assist officers and their families with problems caused directly or indirectly by the stress of police work. The Central Florida Police Stress Unit, Inc. is patterned after other police peer-counselling organizations throughout the country. This site has a good number of links leading to background information, training data, online documents and related sites.

COPS - Concerns of Police Survivors : This organization offers services and programs for survivors of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Critical Incident Stress Management Network of Oklahoma: This page describes the Network's background and history and supplies basic contact information.

David Baldwin's Trauma Info Pages: All you ever wanted to know about the effects of psychological trauma on victims of crime, tragedy or disaster. It contains a large number of links of interest to professionals, volunteers or survivors.

Department of Health and Human Services Emergency Mental Health and Traumatic Stress Index: A series of descriptive links leading to information on disasters, how to deal with stress, and how to talk about these concepts to children, adults and the elderly.

Granite State Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team Official Homepage: New Hampshire's official CISM website. Included are suggestions on how to take care of yourself and a number of common signs that you may be suffering from trauma/stress reactions.

Michigan Crisis Response Association: The Michigan Crisis Response Association is a cooperative effort of crisis response teams throughout the State. There are approximately 50 teams in Michigan whose membership is comprised of individuals from law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services, hospital staff, and educators as well as mental health professionals and clergy. The MCRA and it's annual conference provide training for individuals and team members, further the development of new teams, and provide support for established teams.

National Center for PTSD: A part of the U.S. Dept. of Veteran's Affairs, this site includes background information on the center, access to databases and resource material on post-traumatic stress in general, publications and NCPTSD job opportunities, as well as a few links to other sites. A very useful resource is their PSTD 101 section.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network: The mission of the NCTSN is to raise the standard of care and improve access to services to traumatized children, their families and communities throughout the United States.  Extensive information and referral services are available on their site.

National Crime Victim's Research and Treatment Center : The NCVC has been devoted to achieving a better understanding of the impact of criminal victimization on adults, children and their families. The program activities of the NCVC are focused in four major areas: Scientific Research, Treatment, Professional Education, and Policy Consultation. For nearly two decades the NCVC has conducted important scientific Research projects on different aspects of criminal victimization and child abuse. In more recent years, research efforts have expanded to include an examination of the mental health impact of natural disasters and urban violence. Studies have been sponsored by agencies and organizations such as the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Justice, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, the State Justice Institute, and the U. S. Department of the Navy.

Nebraska Health and Human Services CISM Act: The text of a Nebraska Legislature Act which mandates CISM services for public emergency services workers.

Oklahoma City Police Critical Incident Response & Peer Support Team: Background information on this organization's mission and contact addresses are supplied, as are a number of links of interest.

The Bright Side: A very useful site which presents information and support for those suffering from depression, stress or a personal/traumatic crisis.  They supply links to other sites, online articles, educational materials, support groups and much more.

Victims and the Media Program: The Victims and the Media Program is designed to reach both journalism students and working professionals, with special emphasis on how to get the story without re-victimizing the victim. Their site includes background information and links, archived online editions of their Victims and the Media Newsletter, as well as information on their Victims and the Media Response team, who can both appear at seminars and professional events as well as acting in the role of CISM personnel for journalists who have been traumatized by violence they've seen on the job.

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