Corporate Crisis/Grief Counseling

If your company has experienced the death of an employee or other traumatic or troubling incidents, contact Dr. Debra for corporate crisis and grief counseling.

When unexpected acts of violence or accidents (perhaps leading to deaths) occur, they disrupt the workplace's daily routine and the employees’ sense of equilibrium, leading to emotional responses, a sense of loss, and physical, mental, and behavioral symptoms. These reactions can affect daily routines, personal relationships, and the ability to function at work and home.

For companies, having a trained crisis and grief counselor working at their jobsite means management and human resources have support and guidance in managing the incident, counseling for their own emotional and physical responses, as well as education on how to best handle the affected employees. Depending on the needs of the company or organization, all impacted employees are offered confidential group and individual counseling. Handouts are provided, giving definitions of critical incidents, symptoms, and how friends and family members can help.

If a sudden death or traumatic incident occurs in your company, it is best to contact Dr. Debra as soon as possible. Receiving counseling after a critical incident is important, even if a lot of time has passed. However, the ideal time frame is within the first 72 hours after the trauma occurs or, even better, within a few hours or the next day. The sooner the victim(s) speak with a trained crisis and grief counselor, the more they are likely to have reduced their possible short and long term symptoms.

The length of time Dr. Debra will spend at your company depends on the number of employees affected, the complexity and trauma of the incident, and the depth of respect and esteem the employees hold for affected individual(s). It may take as little as two hours or as much as three days, and, in extreme cases, a week or more. The terrorist attacks of 9-11 were an extreme example of a traumatic incident, resulting in months, and for the people most affected, years of stress-related symptoms. When 9-11 occurred, Dr. Debra worked with the American Airlines flight crews and other personnel at LAX for three weeks.

Since that time she's done corporate and grief counseling with companies whose personnel have experienced layoffs, robberies, arrests, sudden deaths, misappropriation of funds by an employee, and rapes occurring on company property.

Dr. Debra has counseled the victims and families of the Metrolink train wreck on 2-24-02. In 2005, she spent two weeks in Louisiana, volunteering as a mental health relief worker for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. She also volunteered as a mental health relief worker during and after the 2008 California fires in Brea, Yorba Linda, and Diamond Bar. In 2012, she spent time in New Jersey counseling Superstorm Sandy victims.