Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)

CISM helps employers and employees more effectively cope with crises, both in the workplace and in the community. CISM is a comprehensive process that helps people effectively deal with stressful situations such as accidental death, suicide, homicide, robbery, natural disaster or any other critical incident.

Providing CISM services to employees affected by a crisis will reduce the negative consequences of a crisis, resulting in a quicker return to productivity levels, improved relationships with co-workers and less stress on family relationships.

Critical incidents can quickly overwhelm your employee’s coping skills, setting the stage for decreased productivity. The Village offers a multi-dimensional CISM plan that integrates seven core components:

• Pre-crisis preparation
• Demobilization
• Defusing
• Crisis Management Briefing (CMB)
• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
• Individual intervention
• Family CISM
• Follow-up and referral

Critical Incident Stress Debriefing is the most commonly known component of CISM, and was designed to lessen the impact of post-traumatic stress. It is a small-group post-crisis intervention provided after a critical incident. Depending on the nature of the crisis, critical incident stress debriefings are most effective when implemented 24 hours to 7 days after the crisis.

If a crisis impacts your employees, The Village’s fully trained CISM professionals will respond immediately to your call. Our toll-free number is staffed 24 hours a day.