title: Navigating dangerous waters: the utility of critical incident stress management for college- and university-based counseling centers.
abstract: University and college counseling center personnel are called upon to provide routine and emergency mental health services for individuals and groups within the campus community. While highly trained and skilled in individual and small group therapy consultation, and outreach, most higher-education based clinicians do not have specialized training to respond to larger-scale traumatic or critical incidents. Such training is necessary to provide responsible and effective intervention. An approach to these incidents that is research-based, comprehensive, and flexible is Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). The strengths of the CISM approach for use in higher educational settings are detailed with descriptions of existing ways CISM has been used and a call for more wide-spread utilization of CISM in higher education.
authors.affiliation: Counseling and Testing Center, Western Michigan University, USA. Kathy.lewis@wmich.edu
authors.forename: Kathryn J Lewis
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ginebaugh
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Klingensmith
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Palombi
mesh_terms: D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000628:therapy*; D013333:Student Health Services; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities / Q000458:organization & administration