Gratiot County Crisis Response Team

When a traumatic event impacts our community, Gratiot County is fortunate to have a small, dedicated, and discreet team of professionals standing by to offer support to those impacted. This group consists of individuals representing school districts, law enforcement, mental health, Child Advocacy staff, and other community members. Trained to provide trauma mitigation and education, this group responds by providing no-cost critical incident debriefing services to groups exposed to tragic events.

Events could include workplace violence, a vehicle accident resulting in serious injury or death, those who may witness a serious or fatal medical emergency, death or violence involving a child, suicide, fire, natural disasters, or other incidents impacting whole groups of people. While the team does not provide therapy, there are therapeutic benefits to participating and evidence shows that a debriefing after a traumatic event can lead to sustained benefits over time.

The Team has provided support for school faculty and personnel, first responders, students, sports teams, extracurricular groups, and others. Jim Thompson, Ithaca High School Principal said, “As educators, we are often the sounding board for students and parents when they need support, or someone to lean on. This past year our students and staff dealt with a very difficult situation that had a traumatic impact on not only the student body, but the entire staff in our building. The Gratiot County Crisis Response Team did an outstanding job in helping our staff understand the situation presented to us. Simply put, we just could not wrap our heads around the Why? or How? Their team was professional, understanding, listened, and tried to help us with coming to grips with what we were dealing with, and what many will continue to deal with for a very long time.”

Retired Gratiot County Undersheriff and Gratiot County Commissioner, Steve Sopocy, agrees. “Law enforcement is here to protect and serve the public. As a result, they encounter difficult situations that can have unique and lasting impacts. The Gratiot County Crisis Response Team provides a space to talk with peers about the most critical situations and to process what happened together. It does a great deal of good for our people to share their thoughts and know they aren’t alone. Debriefings are a great tool that helps get them back out there doing what they do best.”

Child Advocacy is proud to play a role in providing this unique support to our community. The Gratiot County Crisis Response Team is trained and registered with the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc. and the Michigan Crisis Response Association.

If you are part of a group that has been impacted by a traumatic event and would like to discuss whether a debrief would be appropriate, call Gratiot Integrated Health Network at 989-463-4971.



If you are interested in learning more or joining the Team, please contact Joe at jyourchock@gihn-mi.org. 

Heather Therrien

CAC Program Director