The UHC CAPS Postvention Response Team focuses on the mental health needs of students and offers guidance to staff and faculty in times of crisis or trauma. These interventions are done for groups of students and determined by several factors, including time since the incident occurred, size of the group, and impact on those who need support. The approach to campus responses is based on Critical Incident Stress Management theory, best-practice standards, and experience. For students in need of individual counseling support, our Counselor on Duty services are available when CAPS is open. Please feel free to reach out for consultation or questions.
A critical incident, for UHC CAPS purposes, is defined quite broadly. It is an event that may cause a temporary state of psychological unrest, with a reaction causing a state of emotional turmoil. A critical incident can be a sudden, powerful event outside of the range of ordinary human experience. It has the potential to overwhelm the usual effective coping skills of either an individual or a group. While there are many types of critical incidents on a college campus, the following are examples of the kinds of incidents to which the CRT is prepared to respond.
- Death (accident, suicide, etc) of a student, faculty, or staff member
- Traumatic injury, such as a student being injured in a car accident
- Hate crimes
- Acts of Violence
- National or local tragedies
- Campus emergencies such as residence hall fires
Need to consult?
Please contact the UHC CAPS via phone at 734-764-8312 or visit the central office on the 4th floor of the Michigan Union. Responding quickly and in an appropriate manner can make the difference between healing and long-term psychological distress. After-hours support is always available, and more information can be found HERE.
Looking for grief support?
If you or someone you know is coping with the death of a loved one or another significant loss, visit our Grief & Loss page for counseling resources, support groups, and additional information.
Postvention Response Team Intervention:
As a faculty or staff member, you are always welcome to call us and consult about a UHC CAPS Postvention Response to a critical incident. In some cases, we may conclude that a formal intervention by mental health professionals at CAPS is appropriate. The following are brief descriptions of the three most often used group interventions. We strongly recommend that attendance at any intervention be voluntary. A list of questions is included to help us, in coordination with you, make an informed decision as to which type of intervention would be most appropriate for your students.
Tips for Faculty
The following set of recommendations is meant to offer guidance for educators to help themselves and students grieve and heal.
- Give yourself time to reflect on the event, how you are feeling, and how others might be feeling.
- Become as well informed as possible about the facts and prepare your response.
- Be aware that there is no “right” way to grieve or mourn. You can share your own response and normalize and encourage respect for variations of grieving.
- Consider providing students with copies of "What You Can Expect" (a document you can request from CAPS).
- Don’t fear asking your students how they are doing. Provide needed time to talk about the incident and the student’s feelings.
- If the death was by suicide, acknowledge the difficulty around "making sense" of the death.
- Show appreciation of student’s willingness to talk about their thoughts and feelings and remind them about resources on campus.
- Return the class to the normal routine as soon as appropriate.
- Offer a referral to CAPS to any student you may be concerned about.
- Contact CAPS as needed for additional support and consultation.