Critical incident stress can be caused by any action that precipitates extraordinary emotion and overwhelms an individual's normal ability to cope, either immediately following an incident or in the future. The Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) process has been developed to make law enforcement officers and emergency service workers understand that they are normal people having normal reactions to abnormal events or situations. The concept behind the CISD is to encourage free expression of thoughts, fears, and concerns in a supportive group environment after a major stressful incident. As short-term initial intervention, the CISD often aids in preventing long-term effects caused by traumatic incidents. Debriefing teams are support groups of volunteer mental health professionals and emergency workers who learn to talk with others about job-related stress. Team members undergo 16 hours of training before they can conduct a counseling session, which is usually scheduled within 48 hours after emergency workers have been involved in a critical incident. Almost 100 CISD teams operate on national, statewide, regional, and local levels. 3 references.