2019 CIRP Recurrent

May 14th

CIRP, Critical Incident Response Program, is a company-wide program for both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. It is a group of trained volunteers who can respond to any abnormally stressful or traumatic incident involving any employee. Employees are trained through Alaska Airlines in Seattle and attend the annual CIRP Recurrent. Any employee may become a member of CIRP.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP), is an AFA committees which assists our inflight peers. One of the responsibilities of the Horizon Air AFA EAP Master Executive Council (MEC) Chairperson is to ensure that the EAP Reps are trained to respond to critical incidents that may occur on, or involve, our aircraft. The EAP reps attend a two-day Advanced EAP Training provided by AFA-CWA and then attend the annual CIRP Recurrent held by Alaska Airlines.

As the MEC Chairperson, each year I partner with Alaska Airlines’ AFA EAP MEC Chairperson and the CIRP Directors to plan the day’s agenda and pick a critical incident we want to review, as well as having guest speakers come in and do training on a specific subject. This year we discussed the QX449 incident and the emergency response. We also chose to discuss managing stress, self-care and improving listening skills.

We had over 125 peers in attendance from both Alaska and Horizon work groups: Pilots, Flight Attendants, Maintenance, Ground Crew, Customer Service Agents and Management.

It was extremely beneficial to hear the key components that were necessary after an incident/emergency. Some of the skills we took away from the day’s meeting were:

Being mindful of your stress level
Effectively listening and asking pertinent questions
Being present when talking to peers
Making sure you are taking care of yourself during and after
Remembering it may be hard for individuals to share as we may be strangers to them

If you would like more information on becoming a Horizon AFA EAP Rep, please go to www.afahorizon.org and click on the EAP tab or you may call Lynnette Clark at 360-907-8894. If you would like more information on becoming a CIRP volunteer please go to OYH, Employee Resources, In Time of Need and click on CIRP. The next initial training for CIRP is October 22-23, 2019.

Thank you,
Lynnette Clark, LAP-C, NCAC I, SAP
AFA MEC – Employee Assistance Program Chairperson
Critical Response Program
Professional Standards
QXPDXFA – Council 16 & 17
360-907-8894

AFA Horizon