Take Care of Yourself:
Suggestions on how to combat
Critical Incident Stress
Emergency services personnel are faced with unique stressors on a daily basis.  Every once in a while, emergency services personnel � police and law enforcement officers, fire fighters, rescue personnel, emergency medical technicians, and military first responders � are faced with �critical incidents.�  A critical incident is an event outside the realm of normal human experience.

In order to better deal with a critical incident, you need to be prepared, ahead of time.  People who are prepared, who take care of themselves, are better able to cope with the stress stemming from a critical incident.  This flyer is meant to provide a very basic primer on things you can do to prepare yourself so that, in the unfortunate event you experience a critical incident, you will be able to weather the storm and minimize the impact on your own self, you family & friends, and your co-workers.

The Tidewater Critical Incident Stress Management Team stands ready to help you and all emergency services personnel in southeastern Virginia when it comes to critical incidents and the stress from critical incidents.  We are emergency services personnel and mental health providers who are trained in helping people before, during, and after critical incidents.
Emergency services personnel can access team services by calling:
Days: 757-446-5179
Nights, Weekends, & Holidays: 757-622-1309
In order to take care of yourself, we recommend that everyone develop and implement a stress management plan � before and after experiencing a critical incident.  Your plan should address four cornerstones:  physical, emotional/social, mental, and spiritual.

� We all know that we need to take care of ourselves physically.  Eating right helps your body deal with stress.  Appropriate aerobic exercise combats the negative effects of stress related chemicals in your body.

� The social/emotional component has to do with relationships � relationships with those around us and with ourselves.  We don�t deal with stress well without a healthy support network of friends, family, and colleagues.

� Keeping the mind sharp by reading and other mental activities helps keep the brain working properly... again, combating the negative aspects of stress.

� We don�t live in a secular world.  People who believe in a higher being, God, and work on that relationship, are better able to cope with stress reactions.
Additional Coping Strategies...
Ways to beat the stress.
My Home

My Site Map & Site Links
Types of CISM interventions
The "Terrible Ten": Bad Critical Incidents
This information prepared for emergency services personnel in Hampton Roads by the
Tidewater EMS Critical Incident Stress Management Team.
For additional information about critical incident stress management contact
the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (http://www.icisf.org)
or the Tidewater CISM Team (http://tidewater.vaems.org/cism.html
or email to [email protected]).

(c) 2003 � Tidewater Emergency Medical Services Council, Inc., Norfolk, Virginia.
This information sheet may be reprinted in its entirety so long as credit is given to Tidewater Emergency Medical Services Council, Inc.
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