Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) is a structured group process, facilitated by a small team of trained individuals, where those who have been affected by a critical incident have an opportunity to talk about and react to the incident and learn about the recovery process. The goals of CISM are to reduce the impact of traumatic events, ease the recovery process for those affected, and prevent the occurrence of more serious emotional difficulties.

For our purposes, crisis is defined quite broadly. It is any event that produces a temporary state of psychological disequilibrium and a subsequent state of emotional turmoil. A critical incident is a sudden, powerful event that is outside of the range of ordinary human experience. A critical incident has the potential to overwhelm the usual effective coping skills of either the individual or the group.

Examples of Critical Incidents

CISM Coordinating Committee