CISM - Where does it belong?

[Larry Mangum]

Does it belong under Health Services or Emergency Services.  An argument is being made for moving it to Health Services instead of under ES. Thoughts and comments appreciated.

[notaNCO forever]

 Does health services include mental health? If they do then the answer would seem to be yes.

[RiverAux]

Fair warning -- I'm dubious about the whole CAP "Health Services" program to start with....

This is no different than the Mission Chaplain position which is entirely overseen by the ES training and qualification system even though we have a separate Chaplain program.  Yes, the Mission Chaplain qualificaitons incorporate some of the requirements found in the non-ES Chaplain program, but that is appropriate when duties overlap (like they do between our public affairs officer and Mission Information Officers). 

[lordmonar]

It is part of Emergency Services.....accomplished by Health Services personnel.

Just like PAO....the MIO rateing is part of ES....and it is accomplished by PAO personnel...as a seperate entitty of the PAO rating.

As RiverAux said...no different than Mission Chaplain.  A purely ES rateing seperate from a normal CAP chaplain.

[RiverAux]

and it is accomplished by PAO personnel...as a seperate entitty of the PAO rating.

technically, that isn't necessarily true.  Unfortunately, you don't need to have any PAO training or experience to become a Mission Information Officer under the current rules.  Personally, I think you should be a technician-rated PAO before starting MIO training, but thats for a different thread. 

[lordmonar]

and it is accomplished by PAO personnel...as a seperate entitty of the PAO rating.

technically, that isn't necessarily true.  Unfortunately, you don't need to have any PAO training or experience to become a Mission Information Officer under the current rules.  Personally, I think you should be a technician-rated PAO before starting MIO training, but thats for a different thread. 

But perfectly illistrates the fact that we have ES qualifications and duties that mirror but are seperate from our "regular" duties.

[Dragoon]

I'd put it under health services just to give them something to do.

[isuhawkeye]

CISM is a peer feed back program.  With that in mind People who are CISM qualified should be peers to the people they are talking with.  That means that a common ES reference point needs to be established

[Eclipse]

Emergency Services, that's the only place it has any legitimacy.

There are few, if any, "Incidents", which create "Critical Stress" during AE or CP activities.

[notaNCO forever]

Emergency Services, that's the only place it has any legitimacy.

There are few, if any, "Incidents", which create "Critical Stress" during AE or CP activities.

I don't know seeing someone bleed from a paper cut can be traumatizing.

[RiverAux]

Emergency Services, that's the only place it has any legitimacy.

There are few, if any, "Incidents", which create "Critical Stress" during AE or CP activities.

I don't know if they created critical stress, but a september 2008 safety dept powerpoint presentation (on the NHQ Safety page) indicates that most of our accidents happen at encampments....

[Larry Mangum]

I asked this question, because it has been proposed to move CISM from ES to HS. "Primarily their work would still fall under OPS and ES missions however for Command and Control purposes they would fall under HS", to quote someone from national.  Since I am sure this subject will come up during the conference call tonight, I wanted to hear what you guys thought on the subject. Thanks for the feedback and I will check back again before tonights call.

[Eclipse]

Emergency Services, that's the only place it has any legitimacy.

There are few, if any, "Incidents", which create "Critical Stress" during AE or CP activities.

I don't know if they created critical stress, but a September 2008 safety dept powerpoint presentation (on the NHQ Safety page) indicates that most of our accidents happen at encampments....

I'd be inclined to believe that, if only based on volume, however I seriously doubt there is much need for CISM
because of an injury at an encampment or similar event.

The few places I've ever seen that remotely justified CISM involvement were either legit "icky" crash scenes, or large-scale,
high-tempo environments like Katrina where the operations well exceeded the "normal" experience of the average
CAP member.

[flyerthom]

I asked this question, because it has been proposed to move CISM from ES to HS. "Primarily their work would still fall under OPS and ES missions however for Command and Control purposes they would fall under HS", to quote someone from national.  Since I am sure this subject will come up during the conference call tonight, I wanted to hear what you guys thought on the subject. Thanks for the feedback and I will check back again before tonights call.

I would say that, if one follows the Mitchel book, a CISM team has both peers and MH people. Therefore it should be tied to both, Health services supplying MH personal and ES supplying peers. As for command it's mission support so it should be under a support command.

[Short Field]

If they show up on a SAR, they are under the Incident Commander.

[ZigZag911]

CAP Health Services takes in all sorts of medical personnel, from physicians, dentists and optometrists (people holding professional doctorates) through various sorts of individuals possessing advanced training (but not graduate degrees) such as paramedics and medical technicians.

It seems, therefore, that CAP HS personnel are in no way uniquely -- nor even specifically -- qualified to oversee CIS.

For the most part, CIS serves ES personnel....that's where it belong.