December 7, 2000

TO: CSOSA Staff

FROM: Martina Griggs Johnson

Assistant HR Director for Employee and Labor Relations

SUBJECT: Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – Critical Incident
Debriefing Sessions

As a law enforcement agency, CSOSA is committed to public safety, crime prevention and reducing the recidivism rate in our community. To meet this goal, our employees are tasked with the responsibility of overseeing and supervising persons placed on probation and parole through monitoring, counseling and support services.

In the course of carrying out these duties, employees are sometimes faced with situations and events that can illicit varying emotional reactions. These events or critical incidents can be sudden, stress-inducing and may overwhelm a person’s ability to cope. A critical incident is defined as a traumatic workplace event that can cause emotional or psychological stress in employees who are exposed to the incident directly, or even indirectly. Critical incidents can interfere with a person’s ability to function at work and home. Stress reaction to critical incidents may include: sleep problems, headaches, fear, irritability, mood swings, anger, depression and substance abuse.

To address the issue of work-related stress or critical incident stress, CSOSA, in coordination with the EAP, will be conducting Critical Incident Debriefing Sessions (CIDS). These CIDS are designed to address the reactions of workers to incidents and to assist them in developing coping strategies to maintain their work and personal activities. These debriefings are confidential and will provide participants with the opportunity to ventilate feelings, be educated on the effects of trauma and how to cope with stress. These informal sessions will be held in a group setting and participation is voluntary.

The facilitator of these debriefing sessions will be our EAP counselor, Mr. Jim Reedy.  Mr. Reedy is a Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress and a member of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. Mr. Reedy has conducted debriefing sessions for the Metropolitan Police Department.

The sessions will be held in the Career & Training Development Center located at 633 Indiana Avenue, NW, on the 6^th Floor, Room 6A/6B.

The debriefing schedule will be as follows:

We hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to come and participate in these debriefing sessions. If you have any questions, please contact me at 202-220-5443 or Michael E. Richardson, Employee and Labor Relations Specialist at 202-220-5753.