ASAP is a powerful Critical Incident Stress Management intervention (CISM) to assist persons who are victims of violence and/or who witness violence happening to others. ASAP helps these victims to cope with the psychological aftermath of such incidents by utilizing individual, group, support group, and family victim outreach crisis intervention procedures and private referrals, where indicated. This course is especially helpful for those organizations that may be experiencing recurring violence and/or witnessing violence, such as

• emergency services;
• health care facilities;
• schools;
• police/corrections;
• social service agencies;
• federal, state, and local governmental agencies;
• corporate/industrial organizations;
• medical examiner’s office;

and similar settings where an in-house response is more clinically efficacious and cost-effective than hiring outside consultants. ASAP has been shown to provide needed support to victims, to lower the frequency of violent acts, and to reduce many of the organizational costs associated with violent acts. ASAP is the most widely researched crisis intervention program in the world. Dr. Flannery, who has designed and fielded the ASAP program, will review the latest findings on psychological trauma, the basic principles of psychological first aid, and fundamental crisis intervention strategies

in this two-day course. Working within the context of ASAP, this course will combine lectures, case studies, and skill-building role-play situations for enhanced learning. At the end of the course, participants will understand psychological trauma, psychological first aid, crisis intervention procedures, and be able to design, field, and provide crisis intervention ASAP services for the victims and/or victim witnesses in their facilities.

As of 2005, ASAP had grown to include 31 teams in 5 states with over 1,000 persons trained as ASAP team members. In 1996, ASAP was nominated for the American Psychiatric Association’s Gold Medal Award and in 2000 ASAP received the State of Massachusetts Commonwealth Citation for Outstanding Performance statewide.

This course is a must for staff in agencies where violence is a regular and unwelcome visitor.

(13 Contact Hours; 13 CE Credits for Psychologists; 13 PDHs for EAPs; 13 CE Hours for Calif. MFTs & LCSWs; 13 Contact Hours for National Certified Addiction Counselors OR 1.3 general CEUs from UMBC)* Completion of “The Assaulted Staff Action Program (ASAP):Coping with the Psychological Aftermath of Violence ” and receipt of a certificate indicating full attendance (13 Contact Hours) qualifies as a course in ICISF’s Certificate of Specialized Training Program.

Day 1:(8:30 am - 4:30 pm)

- Psychological Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Psychological First Aid - The ASAP Program - Skills-Building I

Day 2:(8:30 am - 4:30 pm)

- Crisis Intervention Principles - Skills-Building II - Designing and Fielding an ASAP Team - Skills-Building III