Critical Incident Response

A CIR is an immediate psychological first aid response to help support victims of a potentially traumatic incident in the workplace. This can be in the form of:

• An on-site support session for an individual or a group, and/or
• Telephone support for individuals.

A traumatic incident is anything that was unlikely or unexpected, not preventable or uncontrollable.
This might include:

• Experiencing or witnessing a serious accident, either during, outside of, or on the way to, work
• Being verbally, physically or sexually assaulted
• Other acts of violence (e.g. armed robbery)
• Being threatened with physical harm
• An unexpected death or suicide
• Vicarious trauma (e.g., hearing or witnessing traumatic events)
• Natural disasters such as bushfires or floods

Research suggests a CIR prevents Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from developing by helping staff understand and manage their Acute Stress Response shortly after a potentially traumatic incident. Best practice indicates a CIR should take place within the first few days or so after the incident. As such, Associated Employee Assistance will try to organise a response within 72 hours of being contacted, depending on the availability of our practitioner and your staff.

Counselling sessions are a different service – they provide emotional support for a variety of concerns, but are not an immediate response which can be necessary in these circumstances. In addition, a counsellor tends to focus on treatment for resulting trauma or distress, rather than psychological first aid to prevent these effects from occurring.

During the session, our Critical Incident Response Practitioner will:

• Find out what has occurred
• Normalise the range and mix of emotional responses
• Reduce distress and offer emotional support
• Provide psycho-education around how a person can help themselves recover, as required
• Monitor the wellbeing of staff using evidence-based tools and resources
• Make recommendations for future support, if required

The duration of the intervention depends on the size of the group and the nature of the incident, as well as the willingness of your staff to ask questions and engage in discussion. Typically, the group component runs for around 60 minutes, afterwhich our CIR practitioner will stay on site to administer more personal interventions to individuals.

The extent to which individuals take up this option also depends on the nature of the incident, their relationship to it (or to the person or people involved affected by the incident), as well as a person’s own unique history and background, as all these things may impact a person’s emotional response to a potentially traumatic event.

A CIR is not:

• A debrief session – evidence suggests debriefing too close to a traumatic incident may be counterproductive to emotional wellbeing, both immediately and into the future
• Counselling or treatment – staff should seek further assistance through their Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or privately to receive treatment for their mental health post-CIR. If a person does not return to normal functioning post-CIR, trauma counselling may be recommended to assist long term wellbeing.

In circumstances where the critical incident has affected a certain staff member more adversely than others, an individual check-in/support call can be arranged before the group session with the practitioner.

Best practice when communicating news that may adversely affect staff is to be upfront, open and honest. Ensure you have forewarned your employees that you have serious news to share and call a separate meeting. After delivering the news, reiterate that you are there to support them through this time and allow breaks and time off if necessary.

Example communication:

In light of the recent incident in the workplace, we will be organising a mental health professional to come on-site to conduct a group psycho-educational session. This is a form of “psychological first aid”, in which the range or mix of emotions you may be feeling (or may start feeling in the future) will be discussed, as well as different coping strategies moving forward. This type of approach after an incident is considered best practice in psychological care, which is why we are bringing it in. The practitioner will then remain on-site in case anyone would like to chat to them privately.

As part of a best-practise Critical Incident Response, follow up support calls can be organised for employees who require additional assistance. Best practice indicates up to three (3) follow up calls – at 1 week, 2 weeks and 4 weeks post-incident. These calls may last for up to 50-minutes, though are typically only 20-30 minutes in duration, depending on the needs of the employee and the nature of the incident. The follow up call is specifically designed to monitor a staff member’s adjustment to the experience, and a referral to Trauma Counselling may be recommended if required.

An EAP is also an option to provide ongoing support to staff – this entails 1:1 counselling with a mental health professional and can be set up quickly and at a low cost.