So What is Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)?
This is an umbrella term for a number of training courses that, collectively or individually, can be used to provide early support and intervention to people who are experiencing, or have experienced, some form of crisis.
It was developed over 30 years ago in the USA and has become one of the most widely used crisis intervention tools globally. CISM has been adopted and implemented successfully across a wide range of areas, from the United Nations and many US federal agencies, through major international not-for-profit organisations right down to local crisis intervention teams.
The training has not been widely available in Australia to date, but we believe that since CISM interventions have been proved effective at best, and to do no harm at worst, it’s something we want to promote.
Within the Mission Support Team we have internationally approved instructors in 6 relevant topics, and the expertise to develop specific training where necessary.
Critical Incident Stress Management is an integral part of peer support programs in the workplace – be that paid or volunteer – and we would like to see programs become a regular part of support for workers.