PRN Episode #26 Critical Incident Stress Management

Preparedness is about making small sacrifices in normal times so that you do not have to make huge sacrifices in times of scarcity (at least in this host’s mind) – its not just about buying beans, bullets, and bandages – it’s also about learning, training, and building capability.

David has spent a lot of time taking skills and concepts learned in his professional field of emergency management and relating it to his family’s personal preparedness.

One of those things that relates is knowledge about critical incident stress management.  Critical Incident Stress, and Critical Incident Management is directly related to long term responder performance – and un-managed stress can have debilitating effects on the individual and the group.  In his time in emergency management, Dave has had the opportunity to attend multiple training courses in this area and has seen first hand how this sometimes overlooked skill is very important to dealing with emergencies at all levels.

In today’s episode David talks about what it is, how to deal with it, its relation to acute stress brought on by the Fight or Flight response, and introduces the concept of Critical Incident Stress Debriefings.  This show won’t make you an expert in this field, but it is a good introduction to something valuable that is rarely considered in the personal preparedness community.

Now that I went back to corrections, I find I teach classes on this every month.  Critical Incident Stress Management is a big deal, and I imagine it would be have an even bigger impact after a disaster.

The show is scheduled for Monday at 10pm central time at this link.

If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure.