History of the Trauma Support Network

The vision for the Trauma Support Network was created by individuals working in the critical incident stress management recognized a need for the general public to receive services for traumatic grief. Meetings of concerned professionals and organizations began in the spring, 2002. During the year and into the spring of 2003, a strategic plan was formulated and committees have been meeting to bring the idea into a reality.

Community stakeholders and advisors helped to identify issues and trends affecting TSN. Several factors emerged that demonstrate the need to create a collaborative network to provide CISM services across our area.

The most obvious strength of this initiative is that it comes at a time when the potential for terrorism, which can significantly impact communities as demonstrated in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Oklahoma City, is quite high. While the metropolitan KC area does have some capacity to deal with events such as these, the teams mostly comprise emergency medical, fire and police personnel, with minimal training in CISM. These resources are limited and would be taxed if a major event should occur and existing teams are not available to work with anyone from the general public who has experienced CIS. While there are many institutions and organizations working with people who are dealing with stress, trauma and grief issues, TSN is the only group working to: improve the quality of services delivered; build system capacity across disciplines through collaboration; and create a user friendly referral/information system.