200 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
200 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
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FEBRUARY 1990
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CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS DEBRIEFING
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By
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Capt. Richard J. Conroy, M.S.
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Assistant Chief of Police
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Saint Cloud, FL Police Department
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* As the first responder to an early
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morning pedestrian accident, a police
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officer comes across a severed leg
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protruding from a shoe lying in the
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middle of the highway prior to locating
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the victim.
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* While stopping his car, a "back-up"
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officer responding to a domestic distur-
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bance call sees a fellow officer take a
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shotgun blast to the stomach just as the
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front door to the residence opens without
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warning.
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* An 18-month-old child is pulled from the
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family's backyard pool by the first responding
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police officer, only to have the child pro-
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nounced dead at the hospital emergency room.
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These accounts typify the wide-range of emotionally
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traumatic incidents that law enforcement officers may encounter.
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As first responders on the scene, they must act without delay,
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often without the support or backup of other emergency services
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personnel.
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Research conducted by Dr. Jeffrey T. Mitchell (1) of the
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University of Maryland suggests that almost 90 percent of all
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emergency services personnel are affected at least once by
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critical incident stress during their careers.
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In the past 2 decades, much emphasis has been placed on the
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effects of critical incident stress on the emergency services
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worker who is not a law enforcement officer. Unfortunately, the
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law enforcement community has been rather slow to accept the
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fact that critical incident stress can also be a potentially
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debilitating syndrome that seriously affects both the job
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performance and personal lives of police officers. (2)
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CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS
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Critical incident stress can be brought on by any action
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that causes extraordinary emotion and overwhelms and impacts on
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an individual's normal ability to cope, either immediately
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following the incident or in the future. Police officers' human
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coping mechanisms are no different than those of others, just
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because they carry a badge and a gun. And the myth that police
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officers always have total emotional control in all situations is
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just that a myth, not a reality.
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Any incident that results in deep emotional impact has the
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potential to overwhelm an officer's ability to cope. Oftentimes,
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it makes the officer come face to face with his or her
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vulnerability or sense of mortality, such as in an
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officer-involved shooting, the death or serious injury of a
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co-worker, prolonged or extraordinary rescue operations, or
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life-threatening, dangerous, or ``close'' calls.
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For the most part, society expects law enforcement officers
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to handle whatever comes their way, to turn emotions on and off
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at will. But, is it reasonable to expect police officers to be
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all things to all people? And what happens if they can't live up
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to the expectations society places on them? Are there solutions
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to the problem?
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THE DEBRIEFING PROCESS
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The Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) process has
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been developed in an effort to make law enforcement officers and
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emergency service workers understand that they are normal people,
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having normal reactions to abnormal events or situations. These
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debriefings are not the operational critiques that law
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enforcement administrators traditionally schedule after a major
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incident. Instead, they are gatherings led by a trained mental
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health professional with the assistance of supportive peer
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personnel.
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The concept behind these debriefings is to encourage free
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expression of thoughts, fears, and concerns in a supportive
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group environment without losing status among one's peers. In
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fact, debriefings are much more successful and the feedback more
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positive when peer support personnel are more active. (3)
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The debriefing process allows individuals to gain insight
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and reframe the event in a different perspective. As short-term
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initial intervention, it often aids in preventing some of the
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long-term cumulative effects caused by traumatic incidents.
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Some departments require personnel to attend a debriefing
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session after being involved in a critical stress incident, while
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others make attendance a personal choice.
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All debriefings are confidential and provide an opportunity
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for educating officers on stress responses, as well as letting
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those involved know that they are not alone in their thoughts and
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feelings. Successful law enforcement debriefings have been
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conducted after the Winnetka, IL, school shooting, the Palm Bay,
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FL, shopping center shooting, and the Cerritos, CA, air disaster.
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DEBRIEFING TEAMS
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Debriefing teams are support groups composed of volunteer
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trained mental health professionals and emergency workers who
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learn to talk with others about job-related stress. The team
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counsels others on dealing with the emotional toll of their
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professions.
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Team members undergo 16 hours of training before they can
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conduct a counseling session, which is usually scheduled within
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48 hours after emergency workers have been involved in a critical
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incident. During the training, these volunteers are taught to
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identify critical incidents and the physical and emotional
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symptoms resulting from them, as well as delayed stress
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reactions.
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Team members must also become familiar with a debriefing
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model. Basically, this model covers how to get people to
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identify what happened, their role in the incident, and what
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impact the incident had on them. If additional assistance is
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needed after the debriefing session, the individual is given a
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list of referrals to contact for one-on-one counseling.
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Almost 100 CISD teams across the country operate on
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national, statewide, regional, and local levels. These teams
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have conducted in excess of 4,500 debriefings for law
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enforcement, as well as other emergency services workers since
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1983.
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A number of larger police agencies have formed their own
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departmental teams and have trained peer debriefers, written
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operational procedures, and gathered administrative support for
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the CISD concept. Other police agencies have networked their
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members into county and regional teams where multidisciplinary
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resources from police, fire, emergency medical, hospital,
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chaplaincy, and mental health are pooled and shared as the need
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arises.
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LAW ENFORCEMENT CONCERNS
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The many administrative misconceptions about police
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involvement with mental health professionals are changing. The
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philosophies like ``we can handle anything'' and ``it all comes
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with the job, take it or leave it'' are becoming archaic.
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Police managers who have witnessed officers suffering from a
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vast array of emotional, physical, and behavioral symptoms are
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beginning to recognize that these conditions can be the resulting
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effects of critical incident stress. Employee turnover, sick
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leave abuse, an increase in alcohol consumption, extreme
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aggressiveness, and substance abuse are just a few of the outward
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signs that an officer may need help from the department and
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peers.
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Training and education in the area of stress management have
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become somewhat common practices in the police profession.
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Within the past few years, any law enforcement conference,
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workshop, or seminar would not be complete without a segment or
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speaker on stress management, stress symptoms and their effects.
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But, there is still a long road to travel. Agency administrators
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need to realize that training programs will be more effective if
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they cover more than just the basics of stress education.
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Programs should encourage the dissemination of information
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specific to critical incident stress and the associated
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debriefing process.
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CONCLUSION
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Providing critical incident stress debriefing services to
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law enforcement officers should be no different than giving
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officers the proper tools and equipment to perform their jobs
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correctly. Agency administrators owe it to their communities to
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assist in dealing with the effects of critical incident stress.
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The well-being of their departments, officers, and the citizens
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they serve depend on it.
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FOOTNOTES
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(1) Jeffrey T. Mitchell, Roles, Stressors and Supports for
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Emergency Workers, National Institute of Mental Health, U.S.
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Department of Health and Human Services, 1985.
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(2) Thomas Pierson, ``Critical Incident Stress: A Serious Law
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Enforcement Problem,'' The Police Chief, vol. 66, No. 2, pp.
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32-33.
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(3) Jeffrey T. Mitchell, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
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Training Seminar, Orlando, FL, April 1989.
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