Explanation of Specialized Trainings and Definitions
- Employee Assistance Programs – offer a variety of on-demand services to provide staff, managers, leadership, and other designees within a business that touch on topics that effect those individuals. Offer resources and support to personnel when needed for personal or work-related challenges and concerns.
- Peer Led Programing – A wide variety of industries are recognizing the importance of Peer Led support, bringing trained and experienced affiliates to your facility who have shared experiences has shown to increase quality of life outcomes, engagement, and retention. Our focus on whole health care stemming from the understanding of the Zoo and Aquatics Industry will help staff develop and meet attainable goals, understand the commonality of their responses to abnormal events, increase hope, and foster more meaningful relationships.
- Clinical Professional – GRAZE maintains a Licensed Clinical Social Worker as an affiliate and their services can be brought in on an as needed basis. This individual has many years of experience working within the zoo and aquarium industry as well. GRAZE can also work with the local agencies or already established affiliates of your facility in an effort to assist in making the connection between a subject matter expert in mental health and our subject matter experts in zoos and aquariums to best fit your employee’s needs.
- Critical Incident – Any actual or alleged event or situation that creates a significant risk or substantial or serious harm to the physical or mental health, safety, or well-being of a participant. Any event that has a stressful impact sufficient enough to overwhelm the usually effective coping skills of an individual. They are often abrupt, powerful events that fall outside the range of ordinary human experiences.
- Compassion Fatigue – The physical and mental exhaustion and emotional withdrawal experienced by those who care for sick or traumatized people/animals over an extended period of time. Unlike burnout which is caused by everyday work stresses, this is the absorption of emotional burden of a patient or participants agony.
- Cumulative Stress – An unfortunately common experience for people who work in chronically stressful situations. It results from an accumulation of various stress factors such as heavy workload, poor communications, multiple frustrations, situations in which you feel powerless, and the inability to rest or relax.
- International Critical Incident Stress Foundation – The mission of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc. is to be the leader in providing education, training, consultation, and support services in comprehensive crisis intervention and disaster behavioral health services to emergency responders, and other professions, organizations and communities worldwide.
- Mental Health First Aid for Adults – This specialized training teaches how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Giving the peers of GRAZE the skills needed to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis.
- Assisting Individuals in Crisis – 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. This training covered techniques in the fields of Business & Industry, Crisis Intervention, Disaster Response, Education, Emergency Services, Employee Assistance, Healthcare, Homeland Security, Mental Health, Military, Spiritual Care, and Traumatic Stress. All personnel within GRAZE have been certified to Assist Individuals in Crisis through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
- Critical Incident Stress Management – (CISM) is a method of helping first responders and others who have been involved in critical incidents that leave them emotionally and/or physically affected by those incidents. CISM is a process that enables peers to help their peers understand problems that might occur after an event. This process also helps people prepare to continue to perform their services or in some cases return to a normal lifestyle. All personnel within GRAZE have been certified in CISM through the ICISF.
