Critical Incident Stress Management

Boston College is a community with 14,000 students and over 3,000 employees and operates in many ways like a small town. Like any such community, Boston College encounters crises and traumatic events. The goal of BC's Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) is to facilitate interventions in the aftermath of "critical incidents" or crises on or off campus that impact members of the community.

While there are a wide range of critical incidents that can strike a college campus, the following are examples of the types of incidents to which the team is prepared to respond.

• Suicide or suicide attempt by a student or other community member
• Death of a student or other community member
• Serious injury of a community member
• Multiple student deaths or trauma (e.g., van accident)
• Physical and sexual assaults
• Environmental disasters (e.g., fires, hurricanes)
• Large-scale acts of violence

The Critical Incident Response Team utilizes the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) structured technique in helping to reduce the impact of traumatic events, speed the recovery process for those affected, and prevent the occurrence of more serious emotional difficulties.

announcements

Interested in becoming involved with CISM? Contact a member of the CISM Coordinating Committee for more information.

for critical incident response team use

CIRT Request Form for use by the CISM Coordinating Group member to gather information from the initiator. (PDF file. Adobe Reader required.)

CIRT Report Form for the Counseling Services team member to complete and submit to the Counseling Services Director. (PDF file. Adobe Reader required.)