CRITICAL INCIDENT RESPONSE TRAINING FOR COMMANDERS: THE PROVISION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL & EMOTIONAL CARE TO SERVICEMEN & FAMILY FACILITATOR GUIDE INTRODUCTION: - self - experience in managing critical incidents SCC Open Question to elicit response: SAY the word CRITICAL INCIDENT to the participants. ASK: What comes to your mind when you see/hear ‘critical incident’ or ‘a critical incident had happened’? What would you see yourself as commanders having to do first What are your primary concerns? Noted their responses EITHER verbally or write it on the flip chart. Generally, commanders would respond to areas that would be listed under the OBJECTIVES and that these would be covered in the course. SLIDE: Go through the next three slides on objectives (2 slides) and topics covered (1 slide).

Objectives Understand the different psychological & emotional responses in a critical incident Understand the concept of crisis management and the CISM intervention in the SAF. Understand the role of the SAF Mental-health agencies that address the psychological and emotional impact on personnel affected by critical incidents, including NOK FACILITATOR GUIDE Read the objectives: Identify the commander’s role in critical incident management Aware and understand the different psychological & emotional responses in a critical incident Understand the concept of crisis management and the CISM intervention.

Objectives Aware on issues of support and care to staff & self Know on how to deliver bad news & attend to the bereaved NOK at various phases of crisis management FACILITATOR GUIDE Read the objectives: Understand the role of the SAF Mental-health agencies that address the psychological and emotional impact on personnel affected by critical incidents, including NOK Employ mental-health agencies in critical incident management . Know how to support and care to staff & self Know on how to deliver bad news & attend to the bereaved NOK at various phases of crisis management

Topics Covered Crisis Management: mitigating psychological impact Understanding and Managing the Impact of Critical Incident Role of Mental Health Agencies: Psychological and Emotional Support Support and Care: self and others Delivering Bad News Managing & Attending to NOKs’ Grief Reaction & Concerns FACILITATOR GUIDE Read the information on slide ‘Topics Covered’ ASK if they have other areas that they would be interested to know.

Premise of learning Observe confidentiality No strict right or wrong answer Learning is driven by both parties (facilitator and learners)

Recall and relate Experience with crisis Have personally experienced any form of crisis (loss of loved one, someone closed, etc) Have helped/known someone coped with a difficult loss (death, unnatural death) Have handled critical event (deliver sad news) Have not faced any critical event

Recall and relate What types of crisis have you experienced? (personal, observer, helper, etc.) What makes it a ‘crisis’? What is the nature of the incident that made it a crisis to you/others? What are the impact? What sort of emotions, reactions you saw related to the crisis situation On the person who suffered a loss On you (in whatever capacity(ies) you can relate to the person who suffered a loss)

UNDERSTANDING CRITICAL INCIDENT AND ITS IMPACT FACILITATOR GUIDE OPENING: Understanding what critical incident is and the possible impacts can provide a better appreciation on how commanders can assess the situations, have a better expectation on what forms of reactions to expect from different parties who are involved in the incident – be they be the primary victim, secondary victims, responders, significant others (family members, colleagues to the victim, etc).

Role of Commanders FACILITATOR GUIDE SAY: POSE QUESTION: what is the main role of commanders in a crisis situation. In crisis situation, the actions or inactions are magnified and scrutinised. Suggestion: Paint a scenario of a critical incident. A trainee pilot crashed the jet on take off or landing. Pilot died and co-pilot suffered serious injuries. As it crashed, the jet hit a nearby building and killed another serviceman. Question to reflect: a) What would you want from your own commander (boss)? b) What would your men want from you? Suggested possible responses: Servicemen would want commanders to: give them the assurance Show understanding, making the right/ clear decision, making empathetic responses, appear to be strong etc. CONSOLIDATION OF RESPONSES: See if the answers would address the questions found in the next slide (see below) What is your role and objective in a critical incident management (Consequence Management)? Psychological Care: what are your concern with regards to this care? Where would you placed the psychological care in your crisis management plan?

Role of various mental-health agencies Providing Psychological & Emotional Support FACILITATOR GUIDE What are the agencies that deals with mental-health in the SAF? What are the role of mental-health agencies in the SAF? In times of crisis, the main role of mental-health professionals is to provide Psychological & Emotional Support, among others. It is essential that commanders are familiar with these agencies and what role they play and activities they do during crisis management.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT BRIEFING FACILITATOR GUIDE

Support & Care FACILITATOR GUIDE

CRISIS MANAGEMENT BRIEFING EXERCISE FACILITATOR GUIDE

DELIVERING SAD NEWS FACILITATOR GUIDE As part of the INT, Female Support Officers need to be prepared for the reaction of NOKs when the bad news are broken. You need to be equipped with : - basic understanding of the normal grief reactions - how grief is expressed, especially during the initial phase - reaction to sudden/traumatic loss - brief understanding of the grief process A basic understanding of grief and its process will facilitate your role in the INT. You will know that most grief reaction is a normal expression of the loss and react accordingly.

Attending to Noks FACILITATOR GUIDE Inform participants that breaking bad news is the responsibility of the Team Leader. Explain to them that although they are not required to break bad news, they may need to assist the Team Leader to do so under the following circumstances: - when the Team Leader is busy with the NOKs while other relatives who arrive later demands to know what had happened; - when the Team Leader is unable to speak the dialect of the NOKs. Thus, it is crucial for the paracounsellor/grief counsellor to be familiar with the incident and be sensitive and tactful when they break the bad news.