Who We Are...

The York Region Critical Incident Stress Management Team consists of dedicated emergency service workers and Mental Health Professionals who volunteer their time to assist peers who encounter a traumatic event. One of only a few in Canada, the York Region CISM Team is a multi discipline organization with peer members from all areas of emergency service work.

This service is provided to;

Fire Fighters, EMS Paramedics, Police Officers, Communications and support staff for Fire, EMS and Police as well as Hospital Emergency Room staff

Emergency Service workers in York Region, and elsewhere for that matter, are a very resilient group, a result of high quality training, mental preparation, and experience in the field. Despite having this higher threshold of tolerance, these frontline responders are much more likely to encounter a serious traumatic event or critical incident that could challenge their ability to cope and carry on with their personal and professional lives.

What is a Critical Incident?

 Any incident that causes a strong emotional reaction with the potential to interfere with a person’s ability to function. An incident that has the ability to overwhelm an individual. Some examples could be;

Serious injury, death, or suicide of a co worker
Mass casualty incidents

Serious injury or death resulting from actions of a emergency service worker

Events that seriously threaten the life of an emergency service worker

The Loss of a patient life after extensive and prolonged efforts

Incidents that attract extensive media coverage

Incidents where emergency services workers know the victim

Any incident that is charged with profound emotion