Critical Incident Stress Management for Business Aviation

Kevin Armstrong Aircare Solutions Group

Critical Incident

An extremely powerful event that has the potential to cause unusual psychological distress

in healthy, normal people.

Critical Incident

Any situation faced by people that causes them to experience strong emotional reactions with the potential to interfere with their ability to function at the scene or later.

Mental Health Impact

What is ‘Mental Health’?

Happiness ___

Ability to Function

Mental Health Model

HARD WORK

HONESTY

PHYS. FITNESS

PE

OP

LE

DIR

EC

TIO

N

SP

IRIT

UA

LIT

Y

AT

TIT

UD

E

Personality Profile • Obsessive/Compulsive

– Detail Oriented

– Quality Oriented

• Histrionic

– “Self” Focus

– Blame Ourselves

• Controlling

– High Self Esteem

Personality Profile • Risk Takers/Action Oriented

– Seek Instant Gratification

– We Like Toys

– Like to Make Fun of/with Others

• Dedicated

– Job

– Children

– Spouse

• Rigid/Inflexible

• Tenacious

• Procrastinators

Stress

Non-Specific Response of the Body to Demands

Made Upon It.

Stressors

Those Demands Made

Upon Us. Things that

Cause Stress.

Stress Management

• Identify Stressors

• Address, Fix, Remove, Manage Stressors

• Practice Techniques to Decrease Stress Response to Body& Mind

Critical Incident High Risk

Psychological Trauma Like Physical Trauma

Post Traumatic Stress/Disorder

Critical Incident Response Program (CIRP)

• Essential Part of your ERP

• Provides Appropriate Mental Health Professional when and where needed

• Provides Peer Support Network

• In conjunction with ACSF, Aircare provides you a CIRP that you can add to your ERP

Critical Incident Response Program (CIRP)

• Pre incident education, preparation

• Demobilizations

• Crisis management briefings (information management

for co-workers, families, survivors etc)

• Defusings (small group intervention)

• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (Formal group process)

• One on one crisis intervention

• Family support

• Follow up and refferals

Questions and Comments

Thank You.