Scenarioandquestions

(70words peranswer)

Peter is a Community Service worker in the field of Alcohol and Drug Addiction and has been involved in aCritical Incident at work.One of his clients, Alan, was drug affected when he came to the office.Alanrefused to let Peter out of an interview room and hit Peter several times.Peter suffered serious bruisingand a broken collar bone. Two of Peter's colleagues intervened and the police were called.Peter was onWork Cover for several months and slowly returned to his full time position after a transitional return towork phase over four months.Peter and the Team received Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) at thetime.

Since returning to work, Peter's supervisor Alex has noticed Peter is not coping well at work.Peter extendshis lunch hours and often comes to work late.He is exhibiting symptoms of stress. Peter has beenverbally angry with some of his colleagues and tells Alex he does not want to use the interview roomswhen he sees clients. He says he wants to interview clients in the courtyard outside the office.Other TeamMembers have informed Alex that Peter is still talking about the Critical Incident and the Team think heshould just 'get over it and get on with it'.Alex believes Peter may be suffering Post Traumatic StressDisorder(PTSD) andneedsfurthersupportatwork.

1. How would Alex use appropriate questioning to encourage Peter to explore any continuing stress issueshe maybeexperiencingsincehis returntowork.
2. Alex thinks Peter has PTSD. What external agency supports might Alex use to assist in making a correctdiagnosisofPeter's symptoms sincehisreturntowork?
3. How would a 'Systematic Review of the Critical Incident' benefit the Team in understanding that stress forworkers maycontinuefor some timeafter a Critical Incident?
4. How might the long term effects of PTSD or Chronic Stress affect Peter's employment and long termhealthif theyarenotaddressed byhissupervisor?