Five days after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Vickie Taylor led a group of firefighters from Pennsylvania into the pile at Ground Zero. By this time, it was clear that there were no survivors in the rubble. But families in mourning wanted the remains of their loved ones, and firefighters wanted to bring their brothers home, so that was the job.
The site was cluttered with signs and stations — places to get fitted for gas masks to filter out the particulate matter still heavy in the air, a table where workers could stop for some soup donated by Campbell's. Church groups, Scientologists and every type of grief counselor had set up shop. Some firefighters had told Taylor to avoid areas of the wreckage where well-meaning but unthinking people would grab them for forcible therapy sessions.
In the previous 120 hours, as bodies were recovered, funeral services had been conducted continuously. Many of the victims were Roman Catholic, and the priests there were exhausted. One called Taylor's command post, requesting help to spread the word about an upcoming Mass. "I've had a hard day and I've done a number of funerals," he told her.
So now Taylor and the firefighters were hanging laminated signs announcing that a service — not a funeral but an opportunity for people to pray together if they needed to — would be held later that day. They had just finished hanging a new sign when Taylor felt someone take hold of her hand.
Before she knew what was happening, Taylor and her crew were holding hands in a circle with a group of strangers. Taylor only half-listened to the words, which sounded like a sermon, because she was busy watching the firefighters who were all standing in silence, looking at one another with expressions of confusion. Then the clipboards appeared, and the sermonizers started asking questions from a checklist of psychological trauma symptoms.
"They started putting these pamphlets into our hands — something about our grief and how to deal with it, I think. I think it was religious," says Taylor, a social worker who deals with first responders such as firefighters and paramedics in Prince William County, Virginia. "Later on, I saw a lot of those brochures lying on the ground. People threw them away as soon as they were left alone. If I hadn't experienced being grabbed like that, I don't think I would've believed it."
As Taylor continued her work at Ground Zero, she would come to appreciate the counselors who carried broad placards announcing themselves or the long pieces of plywood with the words "Trauma Counseling" lettered roughly in red paint.
"Those at least you could see coming and avoid," she says.
On the day that Taylor was forced into a prayer circle, a psychologist in Kansas City named Richard Gist was dealing with the fallout here. People were stranded at the airport as planes were grounded, and requests for assistance were still coming in from all over the country. In the middle of the night, he found time to grab a laptop and send an e-mail to members of the Society of Clinical Psychology, warning that the practice Taylor had been seeing was more than a benign annoyance.
It was important to stay focused on meeting people's needs in ways that would help, Gist wrote. "In some cases, this will mean protecting them from the convergence of 'trauma tourists' who come to offer untested and ill-conceived fringe therapies for trauma to the desperately frightened and grieving."
And, he warned, "We must also be aware that some approaches that seem intuitively reasonable and have been widely embraced have proven ineffective and even harmful."
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Your article was a great eye opener. I am some what invovled with re-establishing our county CISM team and it was recommended that I check into the lessons learned, that you mentioned, first. I will make sure that every member of our team reads this article before they do anything else. Thank you for your observations and insight. I believe many people will be spared additional trauma because of the ongoing studies into what traumatized people need and what good intentioned people insist on giving.
Thank you.
Your article was a great eye opener. I am some what invovled with re-establishing our county CISM team and it was recommended that I check into the lessons learned, that you mentioned, first. I will make sure that every member of our team reads this article before they do anything else. Thank you for your observations and insight. I believe many people will be spared additional trauma because of the ongoing studies into what traumatized people need and what good intentioned people insist on giving. Thank you.
i am the EMMCO West CISM team coordinator for northwest Pennsyvlania. I was very disheartened and appalled to read this article. I find it sad to see that with all the years of experience and support to the Jeff Mitchell model, there are still people that are uneducated about the process. It is very infuriating to have trainined professionals work so hard to be recognized, but to have people continue to lump them in with anyone who wants to claim to be trained. My team members reguarly attend trainings sponsored by the ICISF. They take off time from work to attend these trainings. They give up time with their families and cancel on plans. They pay the high cost to obtain the supplies. They do all this because they have a belief in the need to help their fellow peers. They don't ask for money or fame or even a thank you. They do it, because they believe in helping. Sad that this article will do more harm that good.
michelle eaton
i am the EMMCO West CISM team coordinator for northwest Pennsyvlania. I was very disheartened and appalled to read this article. I find it sad to see that with all the years of experience and support to the Jeff Mitchell model, there are still people that are uneducated about the process. It is very infuriating to have trainined professionals work so hard to be recognized, but to have people continue to lump them in with anyone who wants to claim to be trained. My team members reguarly attend trainings sponsored by the ICISF. They take off time from work to attend these trainings. They give up time with their families and cancel on plans. They pay the high cost to obtain the supplies. They do all this because they have a belief in the need to help their fellow peers. They don't ask for money or fame or even a thank you. They do it, because they believe in helping. Sad that this article will do more harm that good. michelle eaton
I am a member of a Peer Support CIS team for the Hamilton FireFighter's Local 288. This team is both backed by the Association & Mgt. The Peer system is the only system we have used. Our Defusing's are voluntary to attend. We do not want to be known as the "CIS Police"
Thank you
Rob Kimbell
I am a member of a Peer Support CIS team for the Hamilton FireFighter's Local 288. This team is both backed by the Association & Mgt. The Peer system is the only system we have used. Our Defusing's are voluntary to attend. We do not want to be known as the "CIS Police" Thank you Rob Kimbell
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) can do more harm than good IF NOT SET UP OR CONDUCTED PROPERLY. I have been doing this for years with good success. Here are some cautions: CISD should NEVER be mandatory. Debriefings should not be done on the day of the incident. Mental processing time is needed. They are usually done 24 to 48 hours after the incident. Debriefings for Mass casualty incidents might be a week or more later. Only responders who were on scene (and dispatchers) should be allowed to attend. Different agencies may be combined ONLY IF they worked compatibly with each other. Email me if you would like a General Review & Guidelines--free. I am a fire department chaplain.
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) can do more harm than good IF NOT SET UP OR CONDUCTED PROPERLY. I have been doing this for years with good success. Here are some cautions: CISD should NEVER be mandatory. Debriefings should not be done on the day of the incident. Mental processing time is needed. They are usually done 24 to 48 hours after the incident. Debriefings for Mass casualty incidents might be a week or more later. Only responders who were on scene (and dispatchers) should be allowed to attend. Different agencies may be combined ONLY IF they worked compatibly with each other. Email me if you would like a General Review & Guidelines--free. I am a fire department chaplain.
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