Post Incident Debriefer

Post Incident Debriefer

Abstract

For the purpose of this final project, the author examined a role that forensic psychology professionals perform about police organizations. The researcher comes up with five different journal articles after using Walden library and internet research to support this.  After thorough research, the author described the role of forensic psychology professional and explained why this role is of more interest to him. The researcher also explained the qualifications for this position as well as how to attain certificate and license ( Renfro-Michel, E.2014). He also analyzed and evaluated the specific skills a forensic psychology professional in this role would use or impact to police practitioners. The research did not leave aside communication and interactions the forensic psychology professionals would have in application to internal and external contexts (Gupton H.M and Axelrod E 2011). Alongside this the author evaluated the risks inherent in this role and for the relevant police practitioners, explaining how the forensic psychology professionals would address these risks. The author also analyzed challenges related to her selected position and how the forensic psychologist experts would discuss them. The researcher finally examined and evaluated the conclusions drawn and insights gained in completing this final report. Forensic psychology professional play so many roles in the field of police psychology as highlighted below. Assessment Tasks: Screening, Fitness for –Duty Evaluation, Job analysis, Pre-employment and Post-offer Psychological Evaluation, Special Unit Evaluation and conclusion on personality Testing for Law Enforcement personnel.

            Intervention Responsibilities: Post-Shooting Traumatic Reactions, Stress Management,   Occupational stressor in Law Enforcement, Post-incident Debriefer, and Counselor to     Police Officers and their families and Police Suicide (Renfro-Michel, E.2014).

            Consulting and Research Activities: Hostage-Taking incidents, Criminal Activity            Assessment, and false confessions.

            Operating Responsibilities: Criminal Activity Assessment, Hostage-Taking Incidents,      and Threat Assessment (Gupton H.M and Axelrod E 2011).

Although all these sub areas of the roles of police psychology are of much importance and fascinating in taking a career path in forensic psychology professional, in my point of view, choose Post-incident Debriefer and Counselor to Police Officers and their families. I reached at this after thorough research and interviewing some officers on how they deal with family critics and thought I should educate them on how to handle and deal with family issues.

Post- Incident Debriefer and counselor

As discussed earlier in the roles of forensic psychology professional, in crisis situations the author explains the duties of the role he chooses as:

With many exciting forensic roles that psychology professional should play, the author feels that debriefing or counseling to men who risk their lives everyday protecting us is an important career path to choose (Borum et al 2013).  As cited, police work is one of the most stressful job, where one continually faces the effects of murder, violence, and severe personal

injury and therefore it is wise for forensic psychologists to be called upon to debrief or counsel hostages in critical incidents as well as law enforcement personnel to assist them in dealing with their multiple emotions and hectic moments at work they go through (Bartol,2014). There are some psychological debriefing forms as discussed below.

One form of psychological debriefing is known as Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) or The Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), (Gupton H.M and Axelrod E 2011).To assist those who had survived hostage crisis situations recover from the event, Jeffry Mitchell first developed this model in 1983. In the vast majority of cases, CISM or CISD are conducted by individuals trained crisis intervention and includes the assistance of at least one forensic psychology professional.

The role of post-incident debriefer and counselor impacts the outcomes of the police emergency situations in different ways, where some believe these procedures offers a positive result with others believing that it is detrimental to those receiving debriefings and counseling. At the very least, forensic psychologists may be of assistance to hostages and negotiation team members by allowing discharge emotions during the incident (Renfro-Michel, E.2014). Forensic mental health providers, who are familiar with the tactics and procedures of law enforcement, may also provide law enforcement personnel who respond to these crises with long-term therapeutic and counseling services. Lastly, forensic psychology professionals may initiate research to determine whether or not the post-incident counseling that is provided to some law enforcement personnel who do not receive it and determine which aspects of CISD are most useful to law enforcement personnel.

Qualifications, Certification and Licensure

Skills and requirements of one becoming a certified and licensed forensic psychologist to differ from state to state. For instance, in Mexico (Renfro-Michel, E.2014).  The process seems much more time consuming and entailed than I ever thought. According to the New Mexico Board of Psychologist Examiner, in the state of New Mexico, one must complete the following steps for him / her to qualify as a licensed psychologist:

1. 1. Complete a background check and Fingerprint Procedures: New Mexican Board of psychologist examiners understands how much of an impact psychologist have in the lives of everyday citizens (Renfro-Michel, E.2014). To protect patients and their welfare, psychologist requires all applicants and licensees to agree to a basic background check.
2. 2. Requirements of Complete Supervised Professional Experience (SPE) Requirements: According to the New Mexican Board of Psychologist, applicants must complete two years (300 hrs) of professional experience. SPE hours must be verified upon completion or a person’s application for licensure will not be successful (Gupton H.M and Axelrod E 2011).

Predoctoral Profession Experience Requirements

As part of applicants’ pre-doctoral practicum, they may complete one year of SPE (1500   hrs). Though there are many opportunities for aspiring psychologists to gain experience            SPE must meet the standards of American Psychologists Association to fulfill this     requirement. However, if the applicant is unsure of his or her application, he may confirm    by checking with the Psychologist Examiner for the appropriate SPE requirements           (Borum et al 2013).

Postdoctoral Professional Experience Requirements

After earning their Doctorates psychology, the Board requires ban applicant to complete   one year of SPE Giving him an opportunity to exercise the psychology theories learned in    the classroom to workplaces.

Verification of Required Experience

The Dean of registrar from where their applicant received their doctoral degree must         verify the validity of their SPE fulfillment and fill out verification form on the board’s            website and mail it to the Board of Psychologists Examiners, New Mexico Regulations and Licensing Department, Boards and Commissions Division.

3. 3. Pass the New Mexico Psychology Licensing Exams: The final step after completing the SPE requirements; the applicants need to do is to prove his knowledge to the state on an exam. To do this, an applicant must pass the examination for professional practice in psychology with a score scale of 500 or high. An EPPP test and which consist of 225 multiple-choice questions is administered nationally and must be answered in a timed environment. All applicants must register for the EPPP exam before attempting it (Borum et al 2013).
4. Submit an Application for Psychologist Licensure in New Mexico: After filling all the requirements an applicant needs to submit their application to become a licensed psychologist in New Mexico (Bartol, 2014). They should be certain to mail it to:

Board of Psychologist Examiners

New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department

Boards and Commission Division

Toney Anaya Building

2550 Cerrillos Road

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505

Specific Skills

There are different skills that a forensic psychology professional must have to be a successful post-incident debriefer and Counselor. To be an effective counselor to law enforcement personnel, a person has the ability to get behind the `yellow tape’ (the yellow and black crime scene tape). Civilians are on the outside of the yellow tape, and police officers are on the inside with a clear line of demarcation; however, communications operators, unit secretaries, private crime scene investigators, and cleanup crews are also allowed inside the tape (Gupton H.M and Axelrod E 2011). It is tough to get law enforcement officials to go to counseling, to

Begin with, but to successful at attaining their cooperation to go to counseling; a forensic psychologist must have an extensive list of specific roles as highlighted below:

1. Know the theory behind counseling and what it is utilized for.
2. Have the ability to conceptualize a case from beginning to resolution.
3. Have the potential to adhere to agreed-upon treatment plans.
4. Keep detailed records of a session.
5. Attend all scheduled therapy sessions
6. Maintain flexibility if the client needs to reschedule
7. Ability to read nonverbal cues
8. Ability to maintain a professional relationship.
9. Ability to maintain congruence with the clients
10. Ability to provide all customers with encouragement.
11. Ability to establish and maintain healthy boundaries.
12. Ability to consult with colleagues if uncertain of how to response to the situation(s)
13. Ability to give and receive constructive feedback
14. Ability to help client set and attain goals

15. Ability to work in a multicultural environment
16. Ability to assist client in reaching emotional stability
17. Maintaining the motivation to work with its customers to the best of one’s ability

18. Ability to realize when a referral to another provider would be more appropriate
19. Ability to help client reflect on their actions or feelings.

Communication and interactions

According to the research, the best way to learn about law enforcement officers and get them to communicate and interact with a forensic psychologist is for that person to be among the police officers (Borum et al 2013).  If a counselor cannot or doesn’t want to join police officers, they can always follow officers and see the actual realities of police work and understand what they face on a daily basis.  Building one’s comfort level and respect towards the counselor and make them more likely to open and share their feelings. According to the research the counselor may also visit the local firehouses, police stations, ambulance bays or even volunteer to go for several briefings to introduce themselves and explain what they do, and get to know the officers on a personal level. Therapeutic issues and treatment plans should be put aside during the first several meetings and focus on building a rapport first. This will help an officer open up to a

Counselor more quickly than they would (Bartol, 2014). The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) suggests that the agency seeks those instructors whose interventions include:

• Address the need for acute symptom reduction while not interfering with the natural recovery processes.
• Facilitate social support and effective communication.
• Restore individuals to a precrisis, independent level of functioning.

• Provide closure, if possible
• Refer the officer for more advanced care and intervention as necessary.

The counselor can as well implement a program that offers and promotes a healthy lifestyle, psychological wellbeing, stress and anger management techniques and to improve resiliency and decrease the likelihood of a lasting adverse reaction to trauma.

Ethical, Legal and Diversity Issues

Research shows that several themes were rated by the panelists as important ethical issues in more than one of the three categories. These recurring themes were ensuring ethical practice, addressing social justice and diversity, strengthening the professional’s identity of counselors, and ensuring competence in providing counseling services (Borum et al 2013).

According to American psychologist Association, psychologists must comply with some guidelines as follows:

    Psychologists are encouraged to recognize that, as social beings, they may hold attitudes and convictions that can unfavorably impact their recognitions and connections with people who are ethnically and racially different from themselves (Renfro-Michel, E.2014).

    Psychologists are urged to perceive the significance of multicultural responsiveness, learning and comprehension about ethnically and racially different individuals.

    Psychologists are encouraged to employ the constructs of multiculturalism and diversity in psychological education.

    Psychologists strive to apply culturally- appropriate skills in clinical and other applied psychological practices.

Ethnic ,cultural and diversity training by forensic psychology professionals impacts the police department as a whole by providing diverse populations with enlighten and well-educated police officers who can effectively interact and work in tandem with their communities create new ideas and approaches to situations that can help to eliminate problems created by ethnic and cultural misunderstandings (Borum et al 2013). According to the American Psychological

Association, (APA), a forensic psychologist must comply with the following principles in relation to Ethical Principles of psychologists and code of conduct. The principles include:

    Beneficence and Nonmaleficence

    Fidelity and Responsibility

    Integrity

    Justice

    Competence

    Respect for peoples’ Rights and Dignity

    Resolving Ethical Issues

    Human relation

    Education and Training

    Research and Publication

    Assessment

    Therapy

There are association guidelines that psychologists must follow. The worst penalty the association can inflict on a member is expulsion from the association (Borum et al 2013). Violation of the law carry stiffer penalties than codes of course ranging from limitations placed on one’s license to practice and vulnerability to being sued, to criminal liability for the most egregious actions.

Potential Psychological Risks

The researcher did not see many risks in his research; however he saw the risky challenges as going against APA code of ethic and sexual relationship with a client. This can confuse the patient and cause a lot of pain and stress should the relationship come to an end. The

Other potential risk the author imagined was that a police officer discovers that this police officer is seeking mental health care and advises other fellow officers of this fact (Gupton H.M and Axelrod E 2011). This could cause the colleagues to harass and make fun of the officer who is receiving mental health services and add to his stress level and psychological issues.

Special challenges

The obvious challenge for a forensic psychologist is to get law enforcement personnel to dismiss the theory that they are` weak” by seeking therapy and work to make mental health care a part of the culture and environment (Gupton H.M and Axelrod E 2011) Though most officers experience a wide array of negative physical and psychological experience they are frequently

and commonly exposed to traumatic experiences.eg rape, abuse, physical injury, domestic violence and even death.

Police officers are also subjected to variety of organizational stressors such as fellow officers not fulfilling their duties, assignment of unwanted duties, poor quality equipments, extended working hours and organizational stressors who are commonly cited as number one contributors of police stress.

Conclusions and Insights

Insights the researcher had is officers working in supportive climates and who have reduced need of counseling, significantly less stress and greater willingness to utilize counseling services. Officers who participate in counseling at least occasions indicate an awareness of their need for counseling and therefore, report stress more often that those officers who do not seek any counseling (Borum et al 2013). In addition, the author come to conclusion that police agencies should make it mandatory for all officers would be participating, and it would also give officers that need assistance the ability to get it without other officers knowing that they are seeking assistance. Lastly the author came to the conclusion that it would be a very fulfilling occupation to be a post- incident Debriefer and Counselor for law enforcement personnel.

Reference

American Psychological Association. (2003). Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training,      Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. The American           Psychologist, 58(5), 377.

Bartol, C. R. (2014). Police psychology then, now, and beyond. Criminal Justice and        Behavior, 23(1), 70-89.

Borum, R., Super, J., & Rand, M. (2013). Forensic Assessment for High‐Risk        Occupations. Handbook of psychology

Gupton, H. M., Axelrod, E., Cornell, L., Curran, S. F., Hood, C. J., Kelly, J., & Moss, J. (2011).   Support and sustain: Psychological intervention for law enforcement personnel. The       Police Chief, 78(8), 92-97.

Renfro-Michel, E. (2014). The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision Volume 6           Issue 2 fall 2014. The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 6(2), 6.