Critical Incident Stress Management

I went to a CISM class tonight at the Sheriff Dept. It's good to know there are resources to help with stressful incidents after a search and rescue mission. We learned about stress and how it can build up until one event causes us to not be able to deal, kind of a tipping point. The instructor said that 85% of people are "Somebody needs to do something!" and the other 15% are the rescuers.
The instructor also advised that we not look into the eyes of the victim because that will lead us "down the highway into their soul". Meaning what you see there will be imprinted in your mind.
I wonder about CISM with cancer patients (I want to say survivors but don't like that word). I can be sailing along just fine and suddenly have my "tipping point" and I'm off the rails. I have to find ways to deal with my stress. Because I can't send a hot flash to the DHS worker who denied my medicaid, I have to chill out in other ways. ;-) Pets, puzzles, picking cuticles, Paul Walker movies & blog, punching bag...