[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he stress that comes after traumatic events such as mass casualty situations can be overwhelming for those on the front lines of public safety.
But programs such as Hays County’s Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team can help provide psychological “first aid” to first responders.
Earlier this month, the Hays County CISM was called upon to provide assistance for public servants grieving the death of San Marcos Police officer Kenneth Copeland.
Jeff Barnett, Kyle Police Department chief, said the CISM is a program that offers a way for first responders to speak to someone who “knows what they’ve been through.”
“They want to speak to someone who can speak their language and someone who can feel their pain and understand what they’ve been through,” Barnett said.
“They want to speak to someone who can speak their language and someone who can feel their pain and understand what they’ve been through.” Jeff Barnett, Kyle Police Department chief
Kelly Sheridan, Kyle police victim services coordinator and the city’s CISM representative, said the program, which was was created in 2016, has 22 members and offers four different types of interventions.
The CISM is engaged anytime there is a critical incident in the area. That could extend to a line of duty death, the suicide of a first responder, a natural disaster or events that involve children.
However, what is defined as a critical incident varies from person to person, Sheridan said.
“What might be a critical incident for me may not be for anyone else, and vice versa,” Sheridan said.
Assistance from the CISM begins from the moment a critical incident takes place to several weeks after the event occurs. The goal of the CISM is to help first responders navigate through the stress of a critical incident.
Most often, first responders don’t talk about their feelings, or discuss what they have been through, Sheridan said. First responders can bottle those emotions up, which can lead to Post Tramuatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or in some cases, suicide.
“We get them through that hump,” Sheridan said. “We ensure their emotional and mental health is going down the right direction.”
The CISM has a team that involves peers and law enforcement, along with a group of mental health professionals. The group also has the help of a Buda area psychologist, along with a number of chaplains.
As part of the international Critical Incident Stress foundation, Hays County’s CISM can be called anywhere they are needed.
In September, the Hays County CISM was dispatched to the Houston area following the devastation from Hurricane Harvey.
Sheridan said the CISM responded to Rockport-Fulton and was the first CISM team to respond to that specific area. During their time in the Houston area, Hays County’s CISM assisted 24 different agencies and provided professional help to 410 different people.
During the first six months of operation, Sheridan said the CISM provided 12 different debriefings, including three outside of the Hays County area.
Prior to the shooting death of Copeland, Hays County’s CISM conducted 10 debriefings and numerous defusings, which is a response to a small group that is directly affected by an incident.
Sheridan said there was expected to be many more debriefings and defusings following Copeland’s death.
“We can mitigate and keep first responders going in their career fields,” Sheridan said.
