PRACTICING TEAM DEFUSING AFTER A CRITICAL INCIDENT
Overview
Many times after a critical event, field team managers feel at a loss to address the emotional needs of their team or affected staff member. Often, they have also been involved themselves and are still under high levels of stress. And the HQ has no professional debriefer to send at the last minute. All of this can be detrimental to the team’s health and future well-being – not to speak of the management of the program.
At the CHP, we believe that a few skills, derived from the now well-known Psychological Debriefing technique, can make a big difference in those situations. A “Defusing” is a shorter, simplified Debriefing session, taking place right after the incident. The manager helps the staff to put together the facts around what happened, taking great care to monitor and control the emotional overtone. This sharing of highly volatile matter then leads to confronting the aftermath of the incident and its consequences on staff welfare.
Aim and Objectives
The course should give the necessary skills to lead a group through this delicate process. This one day workshop introduces the participants to:
- Active listening techniques
- Practical support tools which people need after a potentially traumatising event
- Ways to reorient the team towards the next steps after a critical incident
- Self care techniques for the managers themselves
