FireLink

If you think you might need some type of help. Talk to someone. CISM is a great tool. It's for all of us.

Thank you, This could come in handy.  I'm sure that I will be posting her at least from time to time. 

CISM is a great tool. If I'd made use of it early on in my career, I'd have saved myself a whole lot of trouble and headaches. Now I'm in the process of getting my peer certification, and am an interim member of Dare County CISM, pending completion.

I was kind'a worried that members might think it was a bit much.I thought long and hard,but had to go for it.

I hope it will help US all. I have seen it work many a times.  Be safe everyone.

The short answer to this question is.... YES, you do need this.... WE ALL need this... FFs/EMS/LEOs see some of the very worst things that can/do happen to people... you can NOT encounter all that stuff and NOT be affected by it unless you are a ROBOT. btw...if you ARE a robot...please email me, I have some questions....

This is what PTSD is all about and it is NOTHING to play with!

Mike

luvmyff99 says ...

I am having a really hard time dealing with my Dear Hubby and PTSD over some of the thing that he has seen/done.  I work in the medical field and have seen/done just a fraction of what ya'll have.  Hats off to you. 

I can get him to this board, now lets see if he will use it.  The councelor at the VA stated that a he has given our children and myself secondary PTSD from having so much bagage to carry around with him. 

Maybe after you read this it should be deleted....HMMM  Might not be good for him to know my sneeky little plan. 

Actually, it will be a good thing for him to see you care.  I have a lesser degree of PTSD than your husband, from a lot of fatalities when I was 18 and eager to help and always living at the firehouse.  I never sought help for those calls and held it inside....It was the WRONG thing to do.  Being "Macho" and "Manly" is not the way to deal with stress, and I learned this lesson the hard way.  Im still dealing with nightmares, flashbacks, and general depression over things, but Im doing much better and I have established a support network of family and friends.  If your husband wants to talk tell him to PM me and we will exchange e-mail addresses, Id be happy to help him.

This group is a great thing, and everyone should use it whenever they feel the need to, talk about a bad call, both recent and past, or problems with nighmares and family life after a tough call...It effects everyone and few people choose to realize this, which is why people have a hard time with family when they are effected by PTSD.

Anyone want to talk, let me know, Ive been through this multiple times and know of the importance of talking it out with friends and family, which we in the fire service are BOTH!! lol

Keep talking!!!

firefish says ...

CISD isn't for everyone.   But if nothing else it tends to put an entire call into some sort of perspective.  When you consider how many people have just a tiny piece of the puzzle to work with, it is amazing we can accomplish half of what we do.  It generates a sense of perspective - how could I - with my limited scope of duties within the grand scheme of the event have foreseen all possible outcomes ,,. it seems to relieve the sense of burden for many of us when we are shwon just how much was going on around us.

One of the keys to CISD is privacy and I am a bit concerned this is a very public venue.  I am going to start another thread for peopel to post other online or off line sources for assistance.  Please post contacts there if you have them.

What most people do not realize is, this is not a formal CISD session, just an avenue for those of us who CHOOSE to, to speak about a bad call we recently had and get it off our chests.  We will not be disclosing patient name and info, or any other personal info, just somewhere for us to say "Hey, this happened to me, am I feeling what people normally feel after these situations?"

And than people can say to them we are here for you and to share similar experiences.  Talking about things helps sometimes....maybe not everyone, but it does help some people, and for those people they can come here to talk.

firefish says ...

Brian, I did realize it was not a specific session but rather a generalized forum for support.  Rather it was my intent to suggest that even in this very supportive an generous environment we have in our firelink community, this might still be an uncomfortable space for some folks - just as some folks will not turn out for a specific CISD or speak if forced to attend.  That's why I started the other thread - for people who might need resources in that regard.

Keep u the good works.

Agreed.  I posted some info in your thread for everyone, hope people can use it and I hope that everyone realises that if you keep it inside and are afraid to seek ANY type of help, it will hurt you.  I have experienced this.  And Im still hurt.  So, everyone, take any of these forms of help if you need it, theres plenty for everyone and every style of personality, and you could always send me a PM as well, Id be glad to help.  Thanks Firefish!

Question, I might sound stupid, but what is CISM??? I have no idea.

maplehill02 says ...

Question, I might sound stupid, but what is CISM??? I have no idea.

Doesn't sound stupid at all. Critical Incident Stress Management.

wow I m glade its here !! be cause I HAVE  alot of stress !!! its called KIDS !!!!!!! LOL. the last time I had CISM, was in the "80s , Iwas on an ems call , an old close friend shot himself.  WE all need this.

No misunderstanding here!!! I'm glad to see this in the forum section. Good idea.

been on the job 24 years and on the metro boston cism team for about 10.   do we all need it?  yes    because its not just the big calls that can do it.   but add that to the day to day stress that everyone deals with  and it can really start to weigh you down.  

there are two things that i have heard used in debriefings and have used myself 

1.     if you don't deal with your stress in a productive way then its like a beach ball that you are trying to push into the sand, sooner or later its going to spring up and hit you in the face

2. everyone has a bag to carry around their shit {stress, home, bills, spouse, kids etc...}  your bag can only hold so much.  by dealing with stress productively, you are taking a little bit out of your bag.

maplehill02 says ...

Question, I might sound stupid, but what is CISM??? I have no idea.

 

CISM are the initials for Critical Incident Stress Management. is a type of Emotioanl and psycological first aid designed to help someone who has experienced a traumatic event or series of events that may be initially overwhelming or literlally set them into a "stunned" state of mind. The system was devised in the military as a way to help soldiers not become so impacted by what they see and experience. It has grown into one of the most widely supported and regularly used tools for peer support and at the incident or right after the incident tools to prevent trauma turning into something much worse.... even PTSD.

CISM has been accepted by the United Nations as the only disaster mental health tool that they will support used at a disaster.

No tool is perfect. There are many sections of CISM designed to be used in different ways. One type is peer to peer - which is one person to one person. With additional a trained person can manage a group that has been affected.

One of the challenges has been people using one section out of sequence and then when it does not work (kind of like fighting a fire in the wrong order) blaming CISM for being no good when the best tool, used wrongly will not be successful.

As you might have guessed... I am a trained trainer in CISM and serve as a chaplain and CISM team member / leader for a number of departments and in many major events. It works great when you do it correctly! During the Southern Cal fires I was able to use CISM 92 times in one week in an evacuation site... no one walked away saying "what a waste" but many expressed how much better they felt.

I am so concerned that CISM be available I have designed a web site for Emergency and Disaster Responders. http://disasterresponders.ning.com is just another way for this tool to be available for fire fighters and other responders who either do not feel safe discussing it where they are, do not have it available in their area or just don't know where else to go. It is staffed by trained responders available to provide the help someone may need. (This is not mentions as a commercial...I do not personally benifit anything from this site... it is just a need that needed to be met... so we did it!

If you have any questions or need to know where there are trainings in your area.. feel free to contact me.

Blessings

David Ebel, Major

The Salvation Army

Fire Chaplain

ocaptd,  Thank you for clearing that up for those of us that were guessing. 

Also I'd like to thank you for your Emergency and Disaster Responders web page as a resource for us. I applied three days ago, was accepted two days ago, and tonight received a phone call from Bob to let me know that help is on it's way.

It is a relief for me to k now that there is someone out there in our corner and that is not only willing to say encouraging words, but actually put them into actions. 

And Thanks to my firelink friend for getting me in the right direction for help before I completely gave up and walked away, this has given me enough light at the end of the tunnel for another round.