About the lead instructor
During my over 28 years in the fire services, I led my department's "Mental Wellness Team", conducting thousands of defusing and debriefings adhering to the ICISF's CISM Model. I was the liaison chosen to communicate and collaborate internally between city departments and outside agencies regarding mental health concerns and strategies. Simultaneously, as a suppression captain, I joined my crew in mitigating thousands of interesting emergency calls.
In addition to the ICISF, I serve "LivingWorks" and facilitate the world-renowned 2-day workshop "Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training" (ASIST). I teach ASIST to the York District School Board administrators and staff. I also do work on the York Regional CISM Team as the fire department executive. Additionally, I am a certified Red Cross Instructor for Professional Responder courses.
How Critical Incident Stress Management Works
Origins and history:
Thomas Salmon (1917), a British military physician during World War I, was asked to evaluate severe “shell shock” (traumatic neurosis), which was producing psychological paralysis in Allied soldiers. In this first medical description of the psychological effects of war, Salmon noted that French soldiers suffered fewer psychological casualties than British soldiers. Three factors seemed to account for the French advantage: (1) French soldiers were told that they could expect to recover from their psychological traumas; (2) soldiers received immediate psychological treatment, close to the battlefront; and (3) soldiers were returned to battle as quickly as possible. These principles became the cornerstone of modern crisis theory and disaster management strategies. Patients entering crisis treatment can expect to be treated immediately, in their natural environments, with an expectation that they will recover from the crisis or disaster. Efforts should be made to return patients to their normal life and community as soon as possible.
Industries We serve
Comprehensive Crisis Intervention
Calm Response Solutions
Some Of The Professionals We Support
HOSPITALS
Both chronic and acute stress are occupational hazards for nurses, physicians, allied professionals, and hospital staff. While there are positive and rewarding elements to the work, there are also time pressures, high expectations, distressing cases, human suffering, and feelings of being overwhelmed. Addressing the impact of stress and critical incidents is important to help protect team members from compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and moral injury.
CISM Teams
Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) teams are important resources providing vital support and resources to help peers understand a critical incident and work toward rapid healing. As International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) certified instructors, we use the world-renowned ICSF model to teach group and individual interventions.
We work and develop CISM teams to:
- Assist in team development through internal recruitment
- Strengthen teams by providing training in the ICSF model
- Enhance and deepen team member skills
- Consult on complex critical incidents
EMS, Fire, Police
Emergency services are the lifeline of a community. While responding to crises and disasters can be rewarding, chronic and acute stress are common job hazards. Long hours, time pressures and high expectations from others and themselves can lead first responders to experience compassion fatigue, burnout, secondary traumatic stress and moral injury. Addressing the impact of these job hazards can help cushion stress, increase resiliency and lead people toward healing so that these critical helpers can take care of themselves in order to take care of others.
Legal Community
Courtroom Staff, Jurors, lawyers, and judges involved in horrific cases can be at risk. Post-traumatic stress is typically brought on by exposure to death, serious injury or sexual violence, but it can also stem from repeated or extreme exposure to details of a traumatic event. The seeds of vicarious trauma are sown as legal professionals start to relive the experience of helping clients and the evidence involved in a case or cases. In doing so, they may become overwhelmed, isolated, distant, anxious, and more. As a helping professional, you become a reservoir of other people’s trauma — first-person accounts, crime scenes, autopsies. Vicarious trauma can hit after one case or after years of handling or overseeing disturbing cases. Regardless of the timeframe, the process is the same for lawyers and judges. Recurring images and second thoughts. . . . The fact that human beings can do some terrible things hits very hard.
Discover Our Courses
We’re your trusted partner in fostering resilience and competence in facing and managing crisis situations effectively. Explore our courses to gain essential skills in crisis management and mental wellness.