Critical Incident Stress Debriefing is Important for Employers and Employees Alike

Your store or bank has been robbed at gunpoint or there has been a serious injury or death at your company. Your employees have been traumatized. There are people specially trained to come on site and help your employees to return to work and maintain their level of production. They are usually therapists with a specialty in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing - also called CISD. But as businesses have experienced tighter finances they have sought to eliminate unnecessary expenses and may have eliminated bringing in an interventionist when they might have in the past. Or, you may not even know that such a service is available to your company. Large companies with Employee Assistance Programs know this. But small ones may not. Here are some reasons why CISD is important and why it benefits employee's health and employer's bottom line. I have been a CISD specialist for more than 10 years. I have responded to the needs of New Yorkers after 9/11 and was a first responder in Mississippi after Katrina. In my town I'm known as the 'Bank Robbery lady' because I'm the one who appears to assist after every robbery. I've been there for numerous debriefings after a death has occurred in a plant or manufacturing site.I've seen for myself the importance of these interventions and have also seen what often happens when they don't occur.

Traumatized Employees Have Increased Numbers of Sick Days

After a bank or store robbery employees often have anxiety about returning to their job. Fear that the incident may reoccur, that they do not have sufficient protection and that the employer does not care about their safety increases absenteeism and often leads to employees quitting their jobs. By bringing in a CISD specialist the employees can discuss their fears and have them 'normalized' by the interventionist. They feel that the employer has shown care for their well being. Normalization of feelings significantly helps to decrease anxiety and employees have less fear returning to work. Fewer, if any, sick days occur.

Stressed and Anxious Employees Fight Among Themselves

Without any intervention the level of anxiety that existed during the crisis remains, even among those who return to their positions. That heightened level of stress leads to serious conflicts and fighting in the workplace. The break room becomes a battle ground. Company meetings which had been civil and quick in the past now become the place for expressions of dissatisfaction and interpersonal conflict. Intervention provides the opportunity for employees to discuss their feelings and believe that they have been heard. Issues are resolved before they fester and grow.

What Should You Expect the Interventionist to Do?

They will first meet with your employees as a group. If the company is large they may meet with several groups. These meetings are not group therapy. They will discuss the physical and emotional symptoms that might be experienced after a crisis and be given suggestion on how to handle them. They will have some time to express their feelings about what happened. But unlike the type of questioning that might be done by OSHA, they will be discouraged from giving a blow by blow accounting of what actually occurred. They will discuss realities of what happened in an attempt to bring feelings back to normal. The goal of the intervention is to help employees return to work as quickly and as productively as possible. Those with greater needs may see the specialist individually to see if a quick intervention might be helpful. Referrals for those who need more will be made. In extremely serious situations, the specialist may have to return several times. It's especially good to have a specialist present if employees are returning to a work area where they observed a death occur.

Eliminating CISD is penny wise and pound foolish. The mental health of your employees will be enhanced and conflict addressed so their productivity does not falter and the interpersonal issues in the workplace do not become hostile or confrontational. This type of intervention benefits both the employee and the employer.