CISD- Post Debriefing Activities

It is important to remember that at the conclusion of the CISD meeting the work is not finished. Just a segment.  The CISD, has allowed the team to offer preventative interventions and assessments of how the workers were affected. It serves more as a screening tool than a treatment. At the conclusion of the meeting, team members should be aware of who in the group may need further attention.  Those visibly shaken from the incident and those who were silent, or refusing to speak, may be your prime targets for post intervention contact. Contact can begin at introductions in the refreshment room. The refreshment room, ideally, should be located adjacent to the debriefing room and traffic directed to flow into the room by the CISD team.  An offsite location or on the other side of the building is conducive to losing some of the people especially the ones struggling.   This informal interaction allows the group to remain together for a bit longer and the team has an opportunity to reach out further.   Doing this one-on-one provides a greater degree of comfort for the struggling individual if referrals for additional support are given.  A follow-up call from a peer team member goes a long way to reaching out to struggling personnel.  As the group begins to drift away, this is the sign for the debriefing team to also move towards leaving and moving towards the post debriefing meeting.

Post Debriefing Meeting

The post debriefing meeting serves two purposes and is a must to complete.  First and foremost the debriefing team needs to be debriefed, and secondly, any follow-up work needs to be recognized. Important tasks include:

Explore what was done during the debriefing so that the team members can learn more about process and why certain decisions at one point or another or why certain questions were asked. Assign specific follow-up tasks to individual debriefing team members.  there should be no confusion as to who is going to follow up services for them. Make sure the team members are okay.  This is a time to debrief the debriefers.  If this is not done after every debriefing, people may return home distressed.  Allow that to happen too often and a CISD team will lose good members.

Post Action Report

The post action report is optional. It is based on the needs of the CISD debriefing team.  Reports can be helpful for review of case material, and keeping statistics if such information is necessary to the team or organization. If they are kept the format should be simple an short. Information kept to one page divided into three paragraphs is optimal.  Sections should include a brief description of the incident, general themes discussed in the debriefing, and a summary of instruction given to the participants on the debriefing by the team.

When not providing group or individual interventions, the EAP should be visible to the workforce.  This makes them accessible and provides a sense of emotion safety to employees and management.

As the lone provider of services, use what levels of professional support you have in place to debrief yourself.  Just because the services were deemed successful does not mean you will not be impacted.