CISM Team's believe that each emergency services provider
is a unique and valuable member of a team.

It is our vision to provide support to that provider, assuring he/she remains within the system,
in order that their special talents are not lost to the Emergency Services System, or to our society.

AN APROCRYPHAL TALE

I awoke early, as I often did,
just before sunrise,
to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day.
As I moved through the misty dawn,
I focused on a faint,
far away motion.
I saw a youth,
bending and reaching and flailing arms,
dancing on the beach,
no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.
As I approached,
I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay,
but rather bending to sift through the debris
left by the night's tide,
stopping now and then to pickup starfish
and then standing,
to heave it back into the sea.
I asked the youth the purpose of the effort.
"The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach
and they cannot return to the sea themselves, "
the youth replied.
"When the sun rises,
they will die,
unless I throw then back into the sea. "
As the youth explained,
I surveyed the vast expanse of the beach,
stretching in both directions beyond eyesight.
Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation.
The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me
and I countered,
"But there are more starfish on this beach
than you can ever save before the sun is up.
Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.
"The boy paused briefly to consider my words,
bent to pick up a starfish
and threw it as far as possible.
Turning to me he simply said,
"I made a difference to that ONE."

(Think about it!)

Tears of A Cop
(link)

I have been where you fear to go...
I have seen what you fear to see...
I have done what you fear to do...
All these things I've done for you.
I am the one you lean upon...
The one you cast your scorn upon...
The one you bring your troubles to...
All these people I've been for you.
The one you ask to stand apart...
The one you feel should have no heart...
The one you call the man in blue...
But I am human just like you.
And through the years I've come to see...
That I'm not what you ask of me...
So take this badge and take this gun...
Will you take it?
Will anyone?
And when you watch a person die...
And hear a battered baby cry...
Then so you think that you can be
All those things you ask of me...?

"Tears Of A Cop" - author unknown