NNSL (DEC 23/96) - Territorial Emergency Measures Organization boss Eric Bussey believes forearmed is forewarned.

So last weekend he invited Robert van Goethem up from Edmonton, to deliver "critical incident stress awareness" training to fire marshals from across the territories.

Critical incident stress results from a work-related experience dealing with devastation and human suffering. If untreated it can cause fatigue, depression, flash backs, nightmares and phobic fears in the front line workers.

Van Goethem has debriefed emergency workers during the Gulf War, the Hercules air crash in the High Arctic five years ago and following recent Manitoba forest fires.

"It wasn't a training seminar but an awareness seminar, so people will have sufficient information on critical incident stress, have knowledge about the stress and the debriefing process," said Bussey.

Inuvik's assistant fire marshall Tim Pawluk said he wished he'd had the training previously.

"I could have used the information in this course before the Inuvik fire chief died. No one knew what to do," Pawluk said.

Fire marshals make the decisions whether debriefing is needed or not. But now they will be able to make an informed decision, van Goethem said.

Stress debriefing is not a new science. It relies on talking out feelings with peers and a facilitator.

The military used it in the Second World War and later during the Vietnam war, but it wasn't until the 1980s that emergency workers were debriefed in southern Canada.

There have been debriefing workshops in Yellowknife as early as 1987. And van Goethem orchestrated the team that came to Yellowknife after the Giant mine blast.

The fact that it's fashionable to "feel" makes the whole thing work, van Goethem said. Macho men are out in the 1990s and everyone needs someone to talk to sometimes, whether they realize it or not.