Family Liaison Representative is an individual trained in family liaison support who is tasked with acting as a link between an employee’s family and the organisation, following a critical incident.

A psychological critical incident is an event is an event or series of events with the potential to trigger significant human distress

Sources for (Psychological) critical incident definitions: ISO 22330; International Critical Incident Stress Foundation.

‘Bad news’ can be defined as Any news that drastically and negatively alters the person’s view of their future. Where the larger the gap between the persons expectations of the future and the new reality, the greater the degree of impact that can be expected.

Acute stress: This is an intense, fast and normal stress response to a specific event/situation where there is perceived threat to self or others. It is a normal reaction to an abnormal event. Acute stress is used to describe the stress-response within the first 4 weeks after an event. People will usually recovery naturally from acute stress, but recovery can be assisted with effective psychological resilience strategies.

Post-Traumatic Stress is another way of describing acute stress.