Obviously, it sounds as if your CISD was not handled properly. You are right, the PD should not have been there and questioning you. This is why it is SO important that only trained people handle these sessions-and no you do not have to be a shrink or any of that crap. I am a trained CISD facilitator. It has to be handled properly or it will not work.
The problem with CISD is it has a negative connotation to start with. You say the words mental illness and immediately you want nothing to do with it. Since CISDs are working with mental/stress issues, we as professionals associate it with mental illness and we also do not want others to see us as weak or inept in our ability to handle a call.
To make CISDs work, we need to erradicate the negative stigma associated with it. How do we do this? In my experience, it is a long and difficult process. The people that have the most trouble sitting thorugh these sessions are firefighters, because as well all can probably agree, the fire mentality is way different than a service that only does EMS. It is ok to sit in front of the rig and "defuse", but you have not yet gone through a debriefing. Big difference. Someone mentioned earlier that their CISD took place three days later. That is ok. Sometimes, it takes that long before you are able to reorganize yourself and be prepared to deal with it, or symptoms may have been delayed. However you should have had a defusing before that time.
It is true that it does not work for everyone, but EVERYONE that was involved on a call that is going to be a CISD needs to be present. Your presence may not benefit yourself, but it may be helping someone else in attendence. Shouldn't we be helping each other out? I believe so. In a study done on emergency workers that attended a CISD, greater than 90% said they would recommend a CISD even though it did not benefit them. So wake up people, don't be so condescending to a treatment that may help our fellow brothers and sisters. Encourage them and do not pick on or make fun of someone that requests a CISD. They might go home and handle it some other way.
One way to remove the stigma is to make it mandatory. Now before you get your feathers ruffled, lets look at this from a SAFETY perspective. First remove the word mandatory and let's just call it automatic. Now imagine from here on out, that if you go on a certain type of call, it generates an "automatic CISD'. No longer do you have a stigma, its part of your job and you accept it. You know you are going to go. So, what's the harm. Would you enter a fire without putting on SCBA? Would you treat a patient without putting on gloves? No, its all about safety. Would you go to a sexually assaulted, shaken baby, pediatric code without checking your mental well being after? No.
LAFD county, who has over 3,000 firefighters did such a thing. After making it automatic, you know what they found. First, turnover dropped, morale improved, sick time decreased, and the use of EAP for certain other vices(abuses) decreased. This was not a fluke. Its time we take care of ourselves because no on else is.
Sorry about the long story, but I am passionate about this subject and angered when people are narrowminded. Give it a shot. The life you help save, may be you partners...
