Best Practices For Psychological Support Of
Communities After A Disaster
Author(s)
B. Selzler & D. Grandbois
Abstract
Historically, the U.S. emergency response system has not provided
psychological support to communities impacted by disaster. Instead, the
traditional emergency response community focused on preparing for and
ensuring the physical survival and safety of the individuals and communities that
it protects. However, since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, private
and public agencies have enhanced the capacity to respond to the behavioral
health impact of disasters both on the community and individual. The goal of all
disaster intervention, whether physical or psychological in nature, is to restore
the individual to his/her level of pre-disaster functioning. The purpose of this
paper is to identify the best practices and evidence-based strategies used to
restore communities to pre-existing disaster functional status. A review of the
important insights gleaned from U.S. terrorist attacks and from post-Katrina
findings reveal many states’ practices are limited to providing clinical services or
psychological debriefing designed to directly mitigate or lessen the severity of
the psychological impact on victims, responders, and nearby community
members. Little attention has been paid to the broader psychological, social,
functional, and behavioral issues that can impair recovery efforts for both
individuals and the communities in which they reside. Helping communities
become resilient and recover from devastation in a timely manner will improve
the health of communities and decrease economic losses due to lost work time,
health care visits, and use of substances to cope.
Keywords: disaster, behavioral health, mental health, resilient communities.
Keywords
disaster, behavioral health, mental health, resilient communities
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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