This is a two-day (12 Contact Hours) certificate course designed to familiarize emergency responders with concepts of peer support and traumatic stress management. Attendees will learn to recognize the effects of traumatic and cumulative stress and to support their peers and coworkers who may be suffering from those effects.

Day one: Attendees will discuss the history and study of traumatic stress, PTSD, causes and effects of the stress response, and the need for peer support. We will also explore the ways in which unchecked stress can affect the career, the family, and other aspects of the first responder’s personal life. The instructors will present the history and theory of Critical Incident Response and stress management principles in preparation for deeper discussions and class exercises on day two.

Day two will provide insight and understanding of the different types of stress experienced by emergency responders and how our stresses differ from, and are experienced differently than, those in the civilian world. It will provide practical information for providing crisis intervention support to individual responders experiencing crisis as well as integrating peer support principles into public safety organizations as standard practice.

Attendees will be instructed in the essential skills needed for Critical Incident Response and will participate in class exercises designed to demonstrate how to effectively manage Individuals in crisis and how to provide effective peer support to our fellow responders.

The cost is $140 /person for the two-day course.

The group rate for four (4) or more from the same agency is $120/person.

The class is limited to 50 attendees.

Lunch and light refreshments will be served both days.

Critical Incident Response Strategies will donate 10% of the proceeds from this seminar to the Delaware State FOP Tom Pease Scholarship Fund.