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Durham Region Critical Incident Stress Team Recipients of the “ICISF International Crisis Response Leadership Award”

DRCISST was awarded the “ICISF International Crisis Response Leadership Award” athe the 14th World ICISF Congress
DRCISST Team
Resource Writing Department
Durham Region Critical Incident Stress Team Recipients of  the “ICISF International Crisis Response Leadership Award”

In May of this year, eight members of the Durham Region Critical Incident Stress Team travelled to Baltimore, Maryland to attend the 14th World Congress on Stress, Trauma & Coping hosted by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation.   

DRPS members, Deb Sabo, Dana Edwards, Sandra Mackey, Kris Dalziel & Amy Marquis were among over 600 attendees from around the globe who gathered to participate in training, workshops and educational opportunities which revolved around Peer Support, Stress, Crisis Intervention, Critical Incidents, Trauma and Coping.   

The Durham Region Critical Stress Support Team  (DRCISST) which is comprised of volunteer members of DRPS and Emergency partners; EMS, Fire, Mental Health and Therapy Dogs were presented with an International Award at the World Congress. 

The team was presented with the “ICISF International Crisis Response Leadership Award” – An award that is presented to an individual/organization from outside of the U.S. for their significant impact within their home nation and/or nations throughout the world in the field of Crisis Response. 

The DRCISST team, has successful been active since 1991 and supports all emergency services personnel, (Police, Fire, EMS) providing tools to build and support resilience and alleviate potential stress related symptoms through peer support, defuses, debriefing and constant Pre and Post education.  They have provided over 16,000 interventions since 1991, and are committed to “Helping the Helpers”.

The Durham Region Critical Incident Stress Support Team is a voluntary, charitable organization consisting of emergency service members (Police, Fire, EMS and Mental Health) professionals across Durham Region.  Members are ICISF trained to provide crisis intervention and pre-incident education to emergency personnel and their families.

These members are constantly engaged in training (with some newly trained Individual and Group Instructors Certification through ICISF) and executing peer support, be it one-on-one in their daily interactions with their peers (  Police, Fire, EMS) – or for more significant crisis response incidents that require defuses or debriefings.   They make themselves available 24/7 to ensure that everyone is provided the proper resources to assist them in dealing with critical incident stress.

The Durham Region team has helped many other Services in developing teams across the Province and has been instrumental in providing education on Critical Incident Stress to family members of Emergency Services personnel so that they too can understand the significant impact incidents can have on their families.

Members of the Durham Region team believe in helping others at all costs and they have reached out across provinces and countries to provide assistance where needed.   Sending members out to major incidents such as the 1998 Eastern Ontario ice storm for the September 1998 Swissair crash near Peggy’s Cove, NS, the September 11 World Trade Center attacks, the 2003 SARS outbreak, the 2003 blackout are examples of such events.    They are committed to helping others and will continue to reach out across borders offering assistance in hopes of providing critical incident stress support to those Emergency service personnel that need extra support.  

The Durham Regional Critical Incident Stress Support team is always available 24/7 to any member of DRPS or our Emergency Service Partners.      

Durham Region Critical Incident Stress Support Team

Durham Region Critical Incident Stress Support Team is a team comprised of experts in dealing with crisis induced stress and trauma.