The EAO provides grief and critical incident response services to UW‒Madison employees and work units. Critical incidents are events outside the usual range of experience for most people and would be considered distressing to almost anyone. In the workplace, a critical incident can cause unusually strong reactions in the body and can impact normal functioning.
Examples of a critical incident might include:
- Serious injury or death of an employee, student, or member of the public while performing job duties
- A rescue attempt on the job
- Any incident that can be considered a serious physical or psychological threat to an employee, such as a natural disaster, motor vehicle accident, or act of violence
- Being part of an event that receives extensive media coverage
The impacts of grief, trauma, or critical incidents may or may not be obvious from the outside. The EAO offers grief and critical incident response services. Critical incident responses will differ depending on the situation, but may include the following:
- Pre-incident education: Employee assistance counselors will share information about critical incidents, common stress reactions, and response options with campus partners.
- Consultation: Employee assistance counselors will consult with a supervisor, HR representative, or campus partner to learn more about what took place and evaluate immediate needs.
- Defusing: These are one-on-one meetings between impacted employees and a trained counselor that take place within 48 hours of the critical incident, providing immediate psychological first aid.
- Debriefing: Debriefings are structured group interventions that facilitate processing and closure, typically taking place three to five days after the incident.
- Processing spaces: Employee assistance can arrange several different kinds of meetings that provide support to employees with indirect exposure to a traumatic event, or for those who want to process the recent death of an employee to support their grief.
- Follow-up: When appropriate, employee assistance can support follow-up activities with affected employees. This may take the form of one-on-one counseling, additional communication and resources, or referral to outside support.
Schedule a Confidential Appointment
To schedule an appointment with the Employee Assistance Office, please contact us by phone or email. Appointments are available remotely or in-person. All appointments are private and confidential.
Phone: (608) 263-2987
Email: eao@mailplus.wisc.edu
Hours: 8:00 AM–4:30 PM (Monday–Friday)
Access to professional counselors is available to employees 24/7 from LifeMatters