Deirdre has many years of experience in dealing with critical Incidents that take place at work or related to work. Critical Incident Debriefing is an intervention protocol developed specifically for dealing with traumatic events.  It is a formal, highly structured and professionally recognized process for helping those involved in a critical incident to share their experiences, vent emotions, learn about stress reactions and symptoms and given referral for further help if required.  It is not psychotherapy. First used in military situations, It has now been adapted and used everywhere where there is a need to address the impact of trauma in peoples lives.

Debriefing is a proactive intervention involving a group meeting or discussion about a particularly distressing critical incident. Based on the core principles of crisis intervention the debriefing is designed to mitigate the impact of the critical incident on the people involved and to assist them in recovery from the event. Ideally it is conducted between 24 and 36 hours after the event, but in certain cases it may occur later.

It may happen for example after an accident at work where someone is injured critically or even fatally. The ripple effect of such an incident can cause a wide ranging reaction among the colleagues at work. Some may react mildly or not at all and others may be deeply affected and be unable to return to work. It is in these types of situations that having a person to come in and assist people to “debrief” together about the incident in a structured way can be of considerable help.

The typical session might last for 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Each case is completely different- and this is only one example. In certain companies,  the management may allow for those staff members, who were most affected, to have some additional time alone. However, this is all discussed with the people in charge. It depends entirely on the event that triggered the meeting. Deirdre has facilitated  such meetings in Copenhagen, Denmark, London, China and Singapore.