CISM Training
Critical Incident Stress Management Training
Assisting Individuals In Crisis & Group Crisis Intervention Training
Recognized and approved by the
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF)
Our most recent CISM Training ran October 27–29, 2025, with participants from across Ontario.
We’re now gathering interest to plan the next session. Click on the button to add your name and share your preferred timing.
Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) is the standard of care in public safety organizations. This training is two core courses—Assisting Individuals in Crisis and Group Crisis Intervention—to teach core CISM techniques through instruction and practical group exercises. Participants will gain the skills to reduce acute stress, provide support, and make appropriate referrals.
COURSES:
● Assisting Individuals In Crisis – 2 Days
● Group Crisis Intervention – 2 Days
Courses are recognized and approved by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF)
LOCATION: Online via Zoom or in person (depending on where the attendees are)
DATES: TBD
TIME: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM ET
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This training is designed for individuals who provide support in high-stress environments, including first responders (police, fire, EMS, and corrections), peer support team members, mental health professionals, chaplains, healthcare providers, crisis response teams, and those involved in workplace wellness or human resources. No prior CISM training is required.
COST & REGISTRATION DETAILS
The cost per attendee is $350 + HST per 2 day course and includes an e-book and certificate(s) of completion. If you would like to take both courses, it would be $700 + HST.
Participants must complete the course(s) to receive ICISF certificates. Space is limited, and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Once full, additional applicants will be placed on a waiting list.
To ensure fairness, please make sure that your members can attend, as the agency will be responsible for the full registration fee even if a participant does not attend. The only exception is if the course has not yet started, and a substitute candidate can be provided.
INSTRUCTOR
The course will be delivered by Andrea Castillo-Perez, a Registered Nurse and Registered Psychotherapist with over 25 years of experience in healthcare. She provides trauma-informed mental health support to individuals and groups, with a particular focus on first responders, front-line professionals, and those impacted by trauma. Andrea is an ICISF Approved Instructor (CCISM) and is certified in EMDR. She combines clinical expertise with a compassionate, holistic approach rooted in both medical and psychotherapy principles.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
1. ASSISTING INDIVIDUALS IN CRISIS – 2 DAYS
Crisis Intervention is NOT psychotherapy; rather, it is a specialized acute emergency mental health intervention which requires specialized training. As physical first aid is to surgery, crisis intervention is to psychotherapy. Thus, crisis intervention is sometimes called “emotional first aid”. This program is designed to teach participants the fundamentals of, and a specific protocol for, individual crisis intervention.
Program Highlights:
- Psychological crisis and psychological crisis intervention
- Resistance, resiliency, recovery continuum
- Critical incident stress management
- Evidence-based practice
- Basic crisis communication techniques
- Common psychological and behavioural crisis reactions
- Putative and empirically-derived mechanisms
- SAFER-Revised model
- Suicide intervention
- Risks of iatrogenic “harm”
2. GROUP CRISIS INTERVENTION – 2 DAYS
Designed to present the core elements of a comprehensive, systematic and multi-component crisis intervention curriculum, the Group Crisis Intervention course will prepare participants to understand a wide range of crisis intervention services.
Fundamentals of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) will be outlined and participants will leave with the knowledge and tools to provide several group crisis
interventions, specifically demobilizations, defusings and the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). The need for appropriate follow-up services and referrals when necessary will also be discussed.
Program Highlights:
- Relevant research findings
- Relevant recommendations for practice
- Incident assessment
- Strategic intervention planning
- “Resistance, resilience, recovery” continuum
- Large group crisis interventions
- Small group crisis interventions
- Adverse outcomes associated with crisis intervention
- Reducing risks
- Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CISM TRAINING?
Please fill out the form below:
📞 QUESTIONS? Call us at 226-246-4669 or email us at [email protected]