Help when you need it Published Aug. 7, 2008 By 92nd Medical Group staff FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Just as medics provide first aid to physical wounds, Fairchild's Traumatic Stress Response team provides the same care to mental wounds. The 92nd Medical Group TSR team features a service that can help individual Airmen and their units cope with traumatic events, whatever they may be. The Fairchild TSR team members serve as trauma response consultants to leadership, prepare personnel likely to be exposed to traumatic events, and provide screening, education, psychological first aid and referral for those exposed to potentially traumatic events. The TSR service is available to all individuals directly involved in a potentially traumatic event, including killed in action, car accidents, natural disasters, suicide, all air or ground mishaps, search and rescue activities, forensic pathologists, mortuary personnel, or other events at the request of a unit commander. In addition to the TSR team working with a unit, individual sessions are also available to those who may need more counseling. One-on-one sessions are for the purpose of education, consultation and prevention; they are not for medical assessment and treatment. Airmen are entitled to four individual counseling sessions with no documentation ever being kept under the TSR model. This is appealing to many who feel least comfortable talking in groups. TSR services are voluntary, although unit leaders may require affected personnel to receive TSR education at a minimum. The programs are considered preventive; they are not medical services and will not be reflected on the servicemember's permanent records. The Fairchild TSR team, led by Capt. Robert Williams and Staff Sgt Joseph Boswell, is made up of 18 members, including psychiatrists, psychologists, chaplains, chaplain assistants, social workers, community readiness consultants, mental health technicians and others. The teams train quarterly and are prepared to respond to real world circumstances which have the potential to produce traumatic stress responses. The TSR program has replaced the Critical Incident Stress Management program. Currently, the program is being used throughout the Armed Forces and in the civilian community. For more information on TSR call 247-2731.