Training Description

Stategic Response to Crisis

About The Training: The recommended audience for this course includes emergency services personnel, community, hospital and industry leaders, military, clergy/chaplains, school crisis team members, mental health professionals, EAP leadership, and others who share in responsibility for emergency response. It is recommended that those attending have taken some core CISM or other crisis intervention courses. Knowing what sequence of crisis intervention processes to use for which individuals or groups, at what times, and under what circumstances is crucial to all effective early intervention programs. The course will present essential information for the assessment of both crisis situations and the effects of critical incidents on people involved in those situations. Participants will learn to create an effective plan of action to assist those in crisis. Strategic planning and tactical decision making are emphasized, as are rationales for choosing one set of crisis intervention process over another. Participants will complete a series of exercises designed to sharpen their assessment and crisis planning skills. This course builds confidence that crisis interventionists will make the right choices of interventions for the populations they are assisting under specific circumstances.

TRAINING OBJECTIVES: At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

Define strategic planning as it applies to crisis intervention;
Outline the elements of the National Incident Management System and relate those elements to crisis intervention.
Describe a comprehensive, integrated, systematic and multi-component crisis intervention program;
Participate actively in a planning process designed to assist the participants in assessing target populations and in determining the type, timing and resources necessary to assist large numbers of people involved in a crisis.
Choose from a list of the most important crisis intervention tactics to apply in a simulated complicated or large scale crisis event.

Continuing Education Credits:
The Individual Crisis Intervention Training will award 14 CEU’s for LPC/LCPC, LSW/LCSW. CCE’s for Professional Chaplains has been applied for. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has awarded 1.4 CE units for this course.

About the Trainer Dennis Potter, LMSW, FAAETS, received a BS Degree from Grand Valley State University and a MSW from the University of Michigan. He has over 25 years of experience in mental health and crisis intervention. He was a founding member of the Kent County Crisis Response Team, the Mid-West Michigan CISM Team, and the Michigan Crisis Response Association. He is recognized as a Fellow by the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and has presented at many local, national and international conferences. Dennis has a part-time private practice and does training and consulting regarding numerous mental health topics. He worked to develop the course “BUILDING SKILLS FOR CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAMS” and is an ICISF approved instructor for “Group Crisis Intervention”; “Advanced Group Crisis Intervention”; “Individual Crisis Intervention & Peer Support”; “Responding to School Crises”; “Law Enforcement Perspectives for CISM Enhancement”; “Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention“; and “Strategic Response to Crisis”. He has written articles for various journals and co-created the model for Post Action Staff Support (Debriefing the Debriefers), which is featured in the ICISF Advanced Training Workbook. Potter is also a co-author of the book “Practical Concepts and Training Exercises for Crisis Intervention Teams” and the additional CD of expanded role plays for CISM teams.