Managing Crises and Trauma in the Workplace

Abstract

Reactions to trauma/crisis in the workplace may have far reaching repercussions on the emotional as well as financial status of an organization. It is imperative to address these issues and situations as they occur.

Human resource, employee assistance, and occupational health professionals should: seek out and receive training in the area of managing trauma/crisis in the workplace; take responsibility for formulating policy and procedures with management; promote training programs that cover this topic for the organization; and use resources and other professionals that may have more/other experience in this area.

If individuals feel that their training is limited, they may want to contact an outside consultant to conduct the debriefmgs. However, the in-house staff will need to remain active and involved long after the outside consultant has left. Resolution of a crisis/trauma/disaster is not an event, but rather an ongoing process.

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