If a critical incident or traumatic event occurs at your workplace, please call our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) intake line at 204.786.8880 or toll free at 1.800.590.5553 to receive an immediate response. For the Deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired community, our EA centre can receive VRS calls.

During the initial consultation, we’ll work with you to identify an appropriate response time, considering the level of urgency, your team’s availability, preferred delivery format and other practical factors. Since every situation is unique and the needs of each group differ, response times vary from within hours to one week.

Critical incidents and traumatic events can cause a stress response. While this is usually short-term, it may result in prolonged disruption of day-to-day functioning if not resolved. Offering a debriefing following a difficult event supports impacted team members’ recovery through a structured debriefing and psycho-educational process. The availability of supportive resources following an event also reinforces care and investment in your team’s psychological well-being.

Debriefings can occur in person or through online video; the format most appropriate for your group will be determined during the initial consultation.

In-person debriefings are conducted on-site at your preferred location. A private room with chairs in a circle or similar configuration is recommended, allowing participants to interact with one another and the facilitator.

While leaders play an essential role in supporting their team during and after a critical incident or traumatic event, it’s often not required for leadership to attend a group debriefing unless they were directly involved in and impacted by the event. Since every situation is unique, we will work with you to determine whether your presence at a debriefing is recommended and how to best support your team members, even if you’re not in attendance. 

Group sizes vary. We will work with you to determine who should be invited to a debriefing and whether or not a team should be split into more than one debriefing group. This will be based on each team member’s exposure to the incident and their level of involvement. We recommend that groups be made up of individuals with the same or similar levels of exposure to the event. For example, we would not recommend an individual who heard about an event after it was over to be included in the same debriefing group as someone who was present at the event.