MPs build resiliency with CIPS

By Ms. Dawn M Arden (Leonard Wood)October 16, 2014

MPs build resiliency with CIPS
Donna Ferguson, branch chief for the Fort Leonard Wood Critical Incident Peer Support course, counsels a group of military police who were involved in a traumatic incident. The Critical Incident Peer Support course is designed to help military police... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Ten years after it's conception, the U.S. Army Military Police School's Critical Incident Peer Support Course based out of Fort Leonard Wood is still going strong.

The CIPS course aims to breakdown the social stigma associated with seeking help for "psychological injuries" by changing the mindset of mostly the MPs who attend.

Research and data collected by the Behavioral Analysis division showed that law enforcement can suffer from psychological trauma and physical trauma during a five-to-10-year window after working some cases. They began looking into how it was impacting them, the physiology of the body and what stress does to the body, according to the data.

"(Military police Soldiers) are actually experiencing secondary trauma from that which they see," said Donna Ferguson, USAMPS Behavioral Analysis and Research chief. "I used to teach special victims crimes to military police, and I remember teaching a class and starting to see MPs tapping their feet or even their hands as they were listening, and they're not bored, they're not trying to not to hear what your saying -- it's a stress response."

By helping MPs develop healthy coping skills and prepare for and understand Critical Incident Stress, Post Traumatic Stress Trauma and cumulative/chronic stress, the healing process can begin immediately.

However, Ferguson said that coping strategies will fail at some point, and that's why it's important to create change.

"Our goal in the course is not for them to live off coping strategies. If you give someone coping strategies, they're going to do just that -- cope with it," Ferguson said. "We don't want them to just cope with it. We want them to get rid of it."

"When you talk about adult learning, you have to understand what something is before you can change your mindset," Ferguson said. "The approach that we took was a peer-based approach. Instead of saying go to behavioral health, go seek help, a peer-based program (will show you) that you're not the only one."

The 40-hour, five-day course is based on exercise and communication, giving attendees a chance for self-exploration while learning biology, chemistry and psychology.

"All the systems in the body are impacted by stress, so they have to list all the systems and tell what they do," Ferguson said. "The human body is made to heal itself. A physical injury will heal but if you don't do what your supposed to you won't heal correctly. We take the same analogy with psychological injuries -- that if you have a psychological injury and you don't get the assistance you need, the injury will heal but it will heal incorrectly."

Ferguson said they teach on average of 20 to 25 week-long courses a year. With a Mobile Training Team, or MTT, she said they are able to make a stronger impact by teaching a unit rather than teaching just one individual.

During the first week in April, Ferguson happened to be on one of the MTTs conducting a course at Fort Hood during an active-shooter incident. She said the class ended up getting a condensed course and moved into action helping with the crisis.

"We went over to the Criminal Investigative Division and Provost Marshal's Office and began to do debriefings and to help treat," Ferguson said of the incident.

She stressed that CIPS is not a replacement for behavioral healthcare but teaches Soldiers psychological first aid. It helps commanders make accurate decisions relating to their Soldiers who are experiencing stress and trauma. Students also learn how to develop a CIPS Standard Operating Procedure for their unit.

"Regardless of the rank structure, MOS or skillset, a problem or trauma can affect any one of us," Ferguson said. "None of us is immune to trauma."

Related Links:

Fort Leonard Wood GUIDON Newspaper

Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and Fort Leonard Wood