Flexibility is such an important part of being an effective consultant when it comes to critical incident response in the workplace. Every day, CCN consultants place things on hold, clear their schedules, and make themselves available for responses, often with little notice. Meanwhile, I have trouble just getting across town to the dry cleaners before they close. At CCN, we remain terribly grateful for this flexibility of consultants.
Sometimes, however, we realize that decisions about readiness for on-site work on any given day also need to be based on another kind of capacity besides time: our condition. One of the most important factors in critical incident response work is our physical, emotional, and cognitive capacity to do this work based on what’s happening in our personal and professional lives.
Before we reschedule that client or jot down directions to the work site, it is important to take an inventory of self.
- Have I had any recent losses or anticipated losses that could affect my ability to do this work today?
- Am I more than a little sad or depressed?
- Am I experiencing anxiety?
- Am I well rested? Have I been getting enough sleep?
- Am I preoccupied about something?
- Am I feeling under the weather?
- Do I seem to over-identify with this population I’m being asked to work with?
- Do I have any particular biases related to the company or work population?
- Am I feeling less secure than usual (and prone to trying to prove myself)?
Affirmative answers may be a sign that, at least temporarily, our personal life has the very real potential to adversely impact how we are perceived by those at a work site, and how we will relate to participants in a critical incident response. Perception is reality in these situations (even though it’s not), and people in high stress situations are apt to be sensitized to what might ordinarily seem unremarkable. Situational arousal will do that.
When I place calls to consultants to discuss concerns raised by work site representatives, I find that a majority of the concerns are at least partially explained by sensitization and consultants’ life challenges that have little or nothing to do with the critical incident response.
About the Author: Gordon Greer has been a respected mental health clinician in the Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan area for over fifteen years. He earned his degree in English secondary education from Indiana University (IUPUI), and his master’s degree in clinical social work from Western Michigan University. Before joining R3 in 2015, Gordon worked at Forest View Hospital for more than a decade, with a specialization in psychiatric case management, adolescent/adult behavioral health, family therapy, group therapy, and the field of traumatic stress. He also coordinated Forest View’s regionally and nationally regarded Psychological Trauma Program, with a specialization in dissociative disorders and conditions related to traumatic stress. Gordon is a Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CAADC), and has been trained in Critical Incident Response (CIR). Before completing his post-graduate work, he worked for The Salvation Army with individuals and families in crisis situations of homelessness. Gordon is the director of R3’s Productivity Assurance Call Center, which delivers dynamic telephonic solutions for organizations that encounter disruptive events in the workplace.
