Case Studies
Case Study 1: PSC Consultancy-led Intervention
PSC was contacted by a senior manager after the sudden and tragic death of a valued friend and colleague in a small but influential medical setting. A number of weeks had gone by and the initial shock was starting to pass, but the team were struggling to manage around a huge void in their professional and personal lives and management were fearful about doing the wrong thing.
Assessment phase:
PSC had telephone calls and a meeting with a range of managers who, whilst struggling to process their own grief, were focused on the team and carried huge concerns about having a negative impact.
Together we decided on a plan in coming days to provide interactive group support for the closest colleagues and an informational session for the wider setting to come together and have a safe space for acknowledgment of the loss. PSC invited an associated grief specialist and made sure all of the senior leadership team were content to proceed. Plans were made to advertise the sessions through various channels to make sure everyone, from the support teams to external but connected management were aware. Our PSC team were selected, based on availability and appropriate skills and experience, and bottles of water purchased. We ran all the plans through the PSC Oversight Team and psychology colleagues for checking and oversight.
Delivery phase:
We began with a structured group conversation for the closest colleagues using trained PSC facilitators. This safely allows people room to discuss what happened and the impact felt then and now, raise practical concerns, but also talk through their own reactions. It harnesses the power of being aware of each other in a protected and guided space, allows space for teaching and reminders of services of support available. There were immediate positive benefits, though sheer exhaustion in the aftermath.
The informational session happened later and used more PSC facilitators but opened with a prepared verbal presentation on impact, reaction, expectations and addressed some specific points regarding the loss. A number of individual conversations opened up after the presentation and were caught as the facilitation team were prepared, open and available to have them.
Everyone who had engaged with the interactive and informational sessions were followed up and contact made with those who had stayed away. The facilitators were debriefed and learning lessons were examined.
Case Study 2: PSC-led Immediate Response
Our people were on site for an event in an education setting, when an individual experienced a potentially fatal injury.
PSC was able to provide an immediate stabilising environment using the limited resources available to have a safe and trusted point of contact and information. Many one to one sessions happened in the immediate aftermath, but few moved past the immediate management of shock and distress. With senior management, a strategic plan was devised for next steps (as well as a plan b and plan c) and communicated through an informational session which reminded everyone of the routes to support.
The following day, more informational sessions were delivered to update information available and a number of one to one conversations happened as processing moved on, particularly when the life threatening element reduced. One week later PSC facilitators conducted several interactive group conversations and returned in the following month. Alongside this PSC connected with people in the wider organisation who had been impacted and worked closely with the senior leadership as they managed the situation.
In the months following PSC provided general psychoeducation and eventually trained a comprehensive team in CISM within the organisation.