Chapter 13 Providing Emotional Support 13-1. Introduction An organization is defined by the people...
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Transcript of Chapter 13 Providing Emotional Support 13-1. Introduction An organization is defined by the people...
Chapter 13
Providing Emotional Support
13-1
Introduction
• An organization is defined by the people who make it up
• Recent push for improving our health and wellness
• The Fire and Life Safety Initiatives have devoted an initiative to address responders’ physical health (Initiative 6) and a separate initiative to their emotional health (Initiative 13)
• Note the ties between the physical and psychological sides of human beings
13-2
Life Safety Initiative 13
Firefighters and their families must have access to counseling and psychological support
13-3
Life Safety Initiative 13
STRESS
• Overview
• Physical strains
• Emotional strains
• Adrenaline
• Long term effects
• Short term effects
Cont. 13-4Photo courtesy of Bob Gahr
Life Safety Initiative 13
STRESS
• Coping with stress
• Must be able to accept the facts
• Must be prepared
• Impossible to not be affected
• Alcohol abuse
• Drug abuse
Cont.13-5
Life Safety Initiative 13
STRESS
• Failure to cope with stress
• Likely to bring on severe depression
• Police officer study in 2008
• Must expose causes, signs and symptoms of stress
13-6
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Overview
• Only officially labeled in last 30 years
• Early human stresses
• Webster’s 1913 dictionary
• Railway spine
Cont.13-7
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Overview
• Acute stress disorder (ASD)
• Precursor to PTSD
• Generally lasts less than a week
• Some proceed with no intervention
Cont.13-8
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Overview
• PTSD could include
• Avoidance
• Seclusion
• Flashbacks
• Change in eating and sleeping habits
Cont.13-9
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Signs and symptoms
• Categorization
• Re-experiencing
• Avoidance
• Hyperarousal
Cont.13-10
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Treatment
• Psychotherapy
• Counseling as an avenue for healing
• Traditional psychotherapy
• Group therapy
• Individual therapy
Cont.13-11
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Group therapy
• Overview
• Brief group therapy
• Bottling it up proven to be ineffective
• Discussion encourages healing
• Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change
Cont.13-12
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Group therapy
• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
• Meetings
• Similarities to fire departments
• Single share
• Cross-talk
• Closing
Cont.13-13
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Group therapy
• Critical incident stress
management (CISM)
• Pre-incident CISM
• Incident response
• Post-incident response
• AA and CISM differences
Cont.13-14Courtesy of Scott Beveridge, Observer-Reporter
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Group therapy
• Psychological first aid (PFA)
• Effectiveness of CISM
• Effectiveness of PFA
• Primary psychological victims
• Secondary psychological victims
Cont.13-15
Life Safety Initiative 13
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
• Individual therapy
• Mental health support
• Employee assistance programs (EAP)
• Chaplains
• Available
• Approachable
• Adaptable
13-16
Life Safety Initiative 13
THE FUTURE
• Overview
• Relative anonymity
• Texting
• Complete anonymity
• Web based program
• Support system
• Include family members13-17
Courtesy of Erica Ziegler
Summary
• Psychological stress of emergency scenes can be as severe as the physical stresses
• CISM has evolved into a successful form of group therapy
• We need to research, obtain, and implement instruments such as CISM, EAP, and chaplaincy programs
• Improve the tools we have, and invent the ones that don’t yet exist
13-18