Follow-up Services

I added follow up services as a separate service because it is easily forgotten or done inadequately. You will leave the workplace in a better space, but as you return home from your successful intervention, your clients are still impacted.  We hope that they are on the road to greater resilience and they are reading the handouts, continuing to talk to each other, but not everyone will. The power of the event is still large. Belief that their reactions are normal will continue to get challenged. Contacting the workplace and any individual you had met, will go along way to reaffirm their well being and hope in recovery. New issues will emerge in the workplace that will challenge managers. Your role in providing follow-up is to attend to the immediate need and bridge to EAP services or local resources.

Anniversaries

Large events have significant anniversary issues. When one is severely impacted by an event they begin to think about the anniversary long before the actual date.  This is important for planning interventions. It is too late to do it on the anniversary date. People will finally feel relief on the date because it is over. Your response needs to begin at least a month prior.  Simple education letting people know about the anniversary phenomenon may be all that is required. Letting managers know that taking some time to pause and reflect is an act of respectful validation. When you contact, however, much has also changed. Employees may have moved on, there may be legal proceedings and investigations. Health for some may have deteriorated. Other's approach may be to minimize the event and just move on.  You must take a careful re-assessment of the workplace. Corporate debriefings are also a valuable tool to educate many and get the information out.