| The
American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
serves a timely and important role in providing
standards of psychological care for those who
regularly work with survivors. The development
of new models for the delivery of crisis intervention,
the heightened frequency and visibility of traumatic
events throughout the past 15 years, and organizational
trends in proactive medical management and ethical
leadership have converged to create a need for
the rapid and widespread delivery of post-trauma
psychological care. The success of such a mission,
given the varying disciplines involved, requires
clearly defined standards of practice by which
all providers from first responders to doctors
may assist victims of trauma in a coordinated
and effective manner.
Identified by
George S. Everly, Jr., Ph.D. and Jeffrey T. Mitchell,
Ph.D. as the harbinger of "A New Era and
Standard of Care in Crisis Intervention,"
Critical Incident Stress Management is representative
of the fruit of the renaissance of crisis intervention
now sweeping throughout municipalities, corporations,
and schools. Federal and state level governments
as well as numerous agencies such as the National
Transportation Agency (NTSB), the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), the American Red Cross,
and non-profit providers such as the National
Organization of Victims Assistance (NOVA) have
all significantly expanded their roles in the
delivery of post-trauma psychological care.
Coinciding and,
in some ways driving these advancements in post-trauma
psychological care has been a decade of unprecedented
media exposure to enormous loss and human suffering
secondary to natural and man-made disasters. This
heightened awareness and sensitivity to the needs
of those caught in the grips of traumatic events
has also served to advance new federal laws, recommendations,
and recent court rulings calling for higher levels
of accountability and standards for attending
to the emotional needs of trauma victims.
Firm and unrelenting
appeal to the U.S. Congress by family members
voicing outrage at public hearings over the insensitivity
and mishandling of the response by airlines following
disasters such as USAir flight 427 in Pittsburgh,
and ValuJet resulted in sweeping changes with
regard to how the National Transportation Safety
Board, the American Red Cross and airline companies
respond to victims of disaster. The new protocols,
appearing in The Aviation Disaster Family
Assistance Act of 1996 clearly establishes
the NTSB as the agency in charge of managing airline
disaster sites and expands the role of the American
Red Cross to "provide for the emotional well
being of the families of survivors and those whose
lives are lost in an aviation disaster."
Moreover, airline companies must now comply with
a long list of "assurances" under the
Act to ensure proper response to family members
including prompt notification and the provision
of crisis care services as needed.
Likewise, family
members and loved ones of many of those victimized
by the 18,000 workplace assaults and 20 homicides
occurring in the U.S. workplace every week, as
reported by the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health in its June 1996 report on Violence
in the Workplace, have also played an important
role in how organizations respond to traumatic
incidents. After two years of review and input
by victim advocates and industry leaders, the
U.S. Department of Labor and the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration published in
April of 1998 its Recommendations for Violence
Prevention Programs in Late-Night Retail Establishment
(OSHA 3153). These recommendations serve
to guide employers in the development of violence
prevention plans, advises employers to "arrange
appropriate treatment for victimized employees,"
and identifies Critical Incident Stress Management
as an "emerging trend" in interventions
used to reduce psychological trauma and stress
among victims and witnesses.
Striving to meet
the needs of the nations 38 million crime victims,
the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims
of Crime released New Directions from the Field:
Victims Rights and Services for the 21st
Century. This compilation of more than 250
recommendations produced through the input of
over 1,000 individuals from different professions
includes the recommendation that "federal
and state laws should be amended to ensure that
the government covers mental health counseling
costs for crime victims."
Where state statutes
cease, the employers responsibility increases.
The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled in Bunger
vs. Lawson Co. that - in the absence of a
workers compensation remedy - a convenience store
clerk may sue her employer for negligence for
alleged psychological injuries she suffered after
a gunman robbed the store where she worked.
All told, these
rulings, recommendations and laws have served
to set a tone of sensitivity and accountability
for addressing the needs of those victimized by
traumatic events. Where employers and insurers
once viewed post-trauma psychological care as
an unnecessary and costly "therapy"
that could in fact imply liability, today, those
who practice proactive risk management and ethical
leadership immediately acknowledge traumatic events
and take responsibility for providing an immediate
response to the psychological needs of those exposed
to traumatic events. In fact, the crisis management
communications, medical management and post-trauma
crisis intervention that follow most traumatic
incidents may now be most effectively delivered
in the context of a single yet essential and comprehensive
risk management tool referred to as "crisis
care management." Today, federal and state
agencies, school districts, municipalities employers,
EAP providers, third party (claims) administrators,
and insurers increasingly look to professionals
trained in post-trauma psychological care to meet
the needs of those exposed to traumatic incidents
and to assist in the delivery of crisis care management
services.
Now more than
ever, those charged with the responsibility of
answering the call to provide care for victims
of trauma look to the Academy for the leadership,
vision, and professional standards that will guide
the advancement of care provided by those who
regularly work with survivors of trauma.
©1999
by The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic
Stress, Inc. |
