SALINAS, Calif. -- Devon Corpus said her critical incident stress management team was debriefing a group of Salinas police officers after a murder late last year. She said the officers recounted how they held the victim's family back from the crime scene, telling them, "You don't want to see this." But first responders are exposed to that kind of trauma every day, and that's where Corpus and her team come in.
"We try to make sure that it doesn't take its toll," said Corpus, who serves as the stress management team's supervisor. Behind the closed doors of a meeting room at the Salinas Valley Community Church, first responders can feel safe when opening up about a traumatic event. Corpus said this is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between behavioral health departments and law enforcement, all hinging on the relationships she and her team have cultivated with Monterey County emergency personnel.
"It makes the community safer when we have these relationships and they are healthy and they are taken care of," explained Corpus.
Her crisis team works out of a cramped room at Natividad Medical Center, but she's never more than a phone call away, day or night. This is her passion -- and it's personal.
"My father died two years ago I think largely due to the stuff he saw in Vietnam and as a police officer, such a long career, and I think he just didn't have a place to talk about those things," said Corpus. "That just wasn't the way it used to be."
Corpus recalled an accident on Highway 101 last August that was especially tough for first responders. Luis Molina was driving his family car when he chased someone he thought had stolen his motorcycle, hitting speeds nearing 80 miles an hour. He lost control of his SUV and it flipped, killing one of his young children.
"I think it would be really hard to go to a scene and have to give CPR or life saving measures to a child," Corpus said. "Often times [first responders] walk away from those scenes with victims' blood on them and so it's hard, I think it's really difficult to just let that go and move on. I think it has a very strong impact on everyone involved."
Corpus, who also coordinates the behavioral health crisis negotiation team and crisis intervention training academy, worked as a social worker at Salinas Valley State Prison's Department of Mental Health for about five years. She fell in love with the area while serving at the Defense Language Institute and has stayed ever since.
Saturday, she will be honored at the annual Monterey County Red Cross Heroes dinner as this year's medical professional hero for her work with the stress management team. Corpus insists she's not a hero, and says this partnership only works because people like her co-coordinator Marti Barton, Salinas Deputy Police Chief Kelly McMillin and Jennifer Cupak at Monterey County Emergency Communications buy into it and participate.
With all the stress of the job, Corpus makes sure she and her crisis team are take care of, as well, and apparently she has a secret weapon.
"We make sure we debrief the debriefers, that's a standard protocol, and I also like chocolate," Corpus laughed, "so I make sure that I always have chocolate on hand."
The crisis team is not limited to first responders. Anybody who has experienced a traumatic event can speak with a crisis worker by calling (831) 755-4111.
