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Traumatic Stress Response: Psychological first aid

  • Published
  • By Monte Miller
  • 375th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  Just as combat medics provide first aid to physical wounds, the Scott Air Force Base Traumatic Stress Response team provides the same care to mental wounds.

The 375th Medical Group features a service that can help individual Airmen and units cope with traumatic events, whatever they may be.

"This is an Air Force wide program," Capt. Charlene Burrell-White, 375th Medical Group TSR team leader, said. "It covers any type of traumatic event that takes place on base or when a unit is deployed. We also do preparation training on what units can expect to see and feel, so they're not surprised."

The Scott TSR team members serve as trauma response consultants to leadership, prepare personnel likely to be exposed to traumatic events and provide screening, education, psychological first aid, and referral for those exposed to potentially traumatic events.

"We try to make the situation as normal as possible," Captain Burrell-White said. "We find out what the unit needs and let them know what symptoms they can expect, like problems eating and sleeping. It's normal, it's expected and it's O.K."

The TSR service is available to all individuals directly involved in a potentially traumatic event, including killed in action, car accidents, natural disasters, suicide, all air or ground mishaps, search and rescue activities, forensic pathologists, mortuary personnel or other events at the request of a unit commander.

"When there is an incident, the unit commander contacts us and the process begins," Captain Burrell-White said. "The session can include members of a unit, family, friends and first responders."

In addition to the TSR team working with a unit, individual sessions are also available to those that may need more counseling. One-on-one sessions are for the purpose of education and consultation and not for medical assessment and treatment.

"Airmen are entitled to four individual sessions," Captain Burrell-White said. "If you come in, you recognize that you need help. If people are in large groups they may not want to talk. Plus, once people start talking they can get even more traumatized."

Captain Burrell-White explained the TSR services are voluntary, although unit leaders may require affected personnel receive TSR education at a minimum. The programs are not medical services or mental health related and will not be reflected on servicemembers permanent records.

"Mental health has a stereotype," the captain explained. "If this goes on my permanent record, it could end my career, or if I go to a helping agency they are going to kick me out of the military."

To this point, the TSR team at Scott has only been used once in November 2007, when Special Agent Thomas Crowell from Scott Air Force base was killed in the line of duty Nov. 2 while deployed to Balad Air Base, Iraq. Special Agent Crowell was a master sergeant assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Region 3.

The Scott TSR team, led by Captain Burrell-White, is made up of 48 members including psychiatrists, psychologists, chaplains, chaplain assistants, social workers community readiness consultants, mental health nurses and technicians, and many others.

TSR teams train quarterly and are prepared to respond to real world circumstances, which have the potential to produce traumatic stress responses.

The TSR program is replacing the Critical Incident Stress Management counseling that is now outdated. Currently, the TSR counseling is being used throughout all of the armed forces and some civilian agencies are also abandoning the CISM for the TSR.