Community disasters have been dealt with throughout the nation by a process referred to as Critical Incident Debriefing.

The first 24 hours after an incident are crucial and immediate debriefing counselling is required.

CID – Critical Incident Debriefing – is an approach used to address and mitigate the distress caused by sudden traumatic events such as explosions, injuries, assaults or other acts of violence and life-threatening events.

Debriefing usually takes place after an unusual or traumatic incident. It is preferably done directly with the person or persons who experienced the event.

Those affected get together with a crisis counsellor to talk about the incident. The aim is to reduce the stress placed on the responders by the incident.

To aid in this they will:

Discuss the event
Allow those affected to talk freely about what happened, and to share their thoughts and feelingsListen to feelings of others who were affected

Coping strategies are introduced and discussed.

Support and reassurance about safety is critical.

Every individual, experiences things differently and develops different symptoms in response to traumatic events.

Early life co-morbidity – that is, when other traumas have been experienced early in life – can also be a good indicator for further counselling.

Typical emotional and behavioural signs of critical incident stress include

• Anxiety

• Change in activity

• Guilt

• Change in speech pattern

• Grief

• Loss of emotional control

• Panic

• Outbursts

• Fear

• Suspiciousness

• Uncertainty

• Loss or increase in appetite

• Withdrawal

• Alcohol consumption

• Depression

• Antisocial acts

• Irritability

• Pacing

• Anger

• Hyper-alertness

• Apprehension

• Startle reflex

Physical signs of acute stress include

• Fatigue

• Thirst

• Nausea

• Visual difficulties

• Muscle tremors

• Dizziness

• Twitches

• Profuse sweating

• Chest pain

• Chills

• Difficulty breathing

• Shock symptoms

• Elevated blood pressure

• Fainting

• Rapid heart rate