News : May is Crisis Intervention Awareness Month

Benton County Critical Incident Stress Management Team (BCCISM)

The Benton County Board of Supervisors declared the Month of May as Crisis Intervention Awareness Month!  Nationally, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In support of that, and the enormous increase, utility, and importance of teams and services that provide crisis intervention.

The Benton County Critical Incident Stress Management Team (BCCISM) assists our first responders'; Fire, law enforcement, emergency medical services, and 911 dispatchers after they have experienced a critical incident. The organization is comprised of individuals who are trained in group crisis intervention and assisting individuals in crisis, and Mental Health First Aid, at a minimum. Many of our members have additional training or areas of expertise in crisis intervention, suicide intervention, mental health, disaster response, and others. Training is always ongoing for those serving our emergency services personnel.

The team brought the Supervisors a proclamation declaring May, "Crisis Intervention Awareness Month."

"We are very honored and thankful for the support the Supervisors have shown to our team," they said in a statement.

RESOLUTION #22-38

WHEREAS, traumatic and critical incidents have the ability to affect anyone of all racial, cultural and economic backgrounds; and

WHEREAS, in addition to the immediate physical and emotional costs, critical incidents may also have associated consequences of acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, depression, homelessness, eating disorders and suicide; and

WHEREAS, critical incidents can be devastating not only to the survivor(s), but also for the family and friends, and community of the survivor(s); and

WHEREAS, since critical incidents are part of life and cannot be eliminated, we must work together to educate our entire population about what can be done to minimize the aftermath, support survivors and their agencies and/or families, and support those agencies providing services to survivors.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED we the Benton County Board of Supervisors in and for Benton County, on behalf of all staff and citizens of Benton County, that the Month of May 2022 is hereby proclaimed as:

"CRISIS INTERVENTION AWARENESS MONTH"

Signed this 10th day of May 2022.