Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)
CISM is an organized approach to the management of stress responses for first responders involved in a critical incident. The goal is to help the people involved in the crisis talk about their feelings and reactions to the incident. This intervention is also utilized to prevent disorders that may develop as a result of traumatic stress, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. It is a tool that can be helpful in identifying personnel that may need to be referred for further services, to facilitate verbalization of experiences, to normalize reactions to stressful events and improve peer support and cohesion.