Post-Incident Intervention 

There are a range of interventions that will be effective after a traumatic or critical incident has taken place.

For Individuals  a "Person-centered" approach is used where the client is 'the viewer' and the provider is 'the facilitator'.  Using this model the primary interventions are: 

Unblocking  This intervention is based around a series of questions that allow a person to fully explore an incident/trauma or person or loss etc. that may have been buried or suppressed for example death of a partner, work-place conflict, relationship breakdown etc.

TIR (Traumatic Incident Reduction) This Intervention is best suited to a single incident/trauma/loss for example a motor vehicle accident, sexual assault, work-place injury, suicide etc.  Generally a single session will remove the 'charge' (head, heart and gut response) associated with the trauma/loss. 

And TIR Thematic  is usually used when the trauma has been ongoing or repeated for example domestic violence, abuse, bullying etc.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: These sessions run for an un-specified time -  in other words when we start an intervention we aim to finish the  incident in a single session so we allow for up to 3 hours of uninterrupted time.

For Groups (schools, work-place, emergency service, families etc)  the primary interventions are:

Defuse This intervention is similiar to a debrief but focuses on the mental health of the persons immediately involved in an incident/trauma.  It is very effective when performed on-scene and really needs to occur within the first 24 hours of an incident.

Debrief This is a more formal intervention and involves other health professionals, peers, chaplain etc.  It usually only occurs when the nature of the incident is severe and a number of participants/witnesses are strongly affected.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Only persons directly involved in the incident attend these group interventions.