OVERVIEW

Emergency contingency experts contend that drilling and exercising for unexpected catastrophes is critical to speedy recovery. As any number of disaster managers can attest, there are times when infrastructure and technology survive or can be replaced , but if your employees are consumed by their emotions all the trendy technology in the world will not calm those emotions. Machinery cannot lead the recovery of the emotions of human beings. Only other human beings can do that.

Practicing emotional emergency drills is different from drilling for emergency technology or structure disruptions. It is difficult for most people to pretend to have feelings the first few times and can feel somewhat ridiculous. Students who have practiced the techniques of role modeling, drama students, and extroverts may enjoy filling the roles of emotion actors during your first practice drill. Red Cross volunteers would probably be more than happy to show you how to "play disaster." Although everyone will know this is artificially staged, employees and Emotional Continuity Management team members can begin to think through their responses and develop a repertoire . One of the intriguing parts about creating a drill which includes the emotional component is that once the veneer is gone and everyone is given collective permission to "play" you may be surprised at how real it feels, how introverts become extroverts, and how engaged your participants become in the process. You should have a mental health professional available in case someone becomes unexpectedly authentically distressed.

Case Example

The Emotional Continuity Management Trainer had prepared the company volunteers on what to expect in case of a real chemical weapons emergency. The drill was going along smoothly until there were two unexpected events. First, one of the volunteer victim actors had a real psychological panic attack and began screaming uncontrollably. Most of the volunteers assumed it was part of the act of participating in a lifelike emergency drill. When she did not stop in a few minutes the team realized that the drill had turned into a real event and followed their guidelines to assist the authentically distressed participant.

The second unexpected surprise was when a planned surprise turned into an emotional disturbance. Like other disaster drills the planners wanted to throw in a few surprises to see how people would respond. Unbeknownst to the participants in the exercise, the trainers had asked the coroner to send a team of deputies to practice death notification. When the deputies and the coroner arrived, and began asking for assistance from the participants to notify a family member about a "death," the company team slipped from practicing emotions to real emotions. Facing the coroner brought up a ripple of terror in the exercise that was unexpected. Because the scene of the drill had been so well staged, several participants began to question if this was a drill or a real event. One mental health professional became so visibly upset that she was relieved of her duty. Another volunteer stepped forward to address the issues, now uncertain if it was real or drill. The team continued to follow procedures although distressed and managed well by using previously practiced methods . The volunteer took a quiet leadership role and directed others to assist one another with their emotional concerns.

Learning Byte

Both these unexpected emotional events became the entire focus of the exercise. Although the drill involved over twelve responder agencies with various exercise agendas , it was the unexpected emotional events in each setting that became the focus. Post-drill debriefing exercises turned into real debriefings of emotions. Reality had imposed on the fantasy. Drills and exercises provided a back-up system to rehearse managing the emotions that incidents such as these may create.

DO THIS : Factor in the concept of Emotional Continuity Management (which include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder training, Stress Management, Debriefing, and Defusing as well as normal and abnormal and mental health considerations) into your drills.

DON'T : Have drills in close proximity to a real event in your community; include people who have had recent trauma; or, involve children in the drills. Don't have a mock drill without a post-drill mock-debriefing by trained individuals.