The following information is provided to assist you in organizing a Crisis Support debriefing.
A Crisis Support debriefing is a structured group meeting with the personnel directly involved with a critical incident and a Crisis Support Team. It is a confidential discussion of the involvement, thoughts, reactions, and feelings resulting from the incident. The Crisis Support debriefing should not be used to critique the incident. Information is provided on the stress response and appropriate stress reduction techniques. Debriefings promote recovery in normal people who are having normal reactions to abnormal events.
Invite all involved personnel.
Do not invite the following individuals without consulting the Crisis Support team:
Personnel not involved in the incident
Bystanders, witnesses, friends
Children of responders
Family members of the victim
Personnel who are still "responding" to the incident in some way, i.e., officers still involved in an investigation, victim advocates or coroners still providing services
Spouses should be debriefed in a separate group, not included with emergency responders.
The meeting area must be large enough to accommodate all participants and should be in a quiet facility with no interruptions.
Participants should be out of service or off duty during the debriefing and arrangements should be made for another unit, agency or other personnel to cover duties.
While there are no time schedules for debriefings, plan for a minimum of 1½ - 2½ hours. Participants should be able to remain for the entire session.
We recommend that you provide light refreshments following the debriefing.
