Disaster Response

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Recommended: Sample mental health vignettes responding to disaster situation

My peers were considering the notion of being flooded and the potential advantage/disadvantage of that to a disaster mental health worker. Perhaps some mental health workers are meant to be first responders and others to be the responders for the first responders back in their communities upon their return, with their being immense value in both.
On reflection and analysis of all of this, I still unequivocally know that being a first responder what I am drawn to and meant to do. My collective life experiences allow me to switch into a therapeutic mode in which I am be able to sit with extremes of devastation and to deeply empathise with the individuals whilst bracketing. The SAMHSA (2005) guide for disaster responders in managing stress and the presentation by Meggert (2013) were, however, very useful in bringing areas to be mindful of into my consciousness. Reflection upon those has led me to realize the usefulness for me in utilizing mindfulness techniques such that I could employ a visualization of a therapy room that I would be entering and exiting in a disaster setting to establish the same inner boundaries for myself – of containing and leaving things in a room, as well as having a ‘room’ for my own processing of my in the moment experiences. Self-care seems paramount, and I wonder about the possibility of disaster relief sites having an art or music therapy room for first responders to go to as needed to process what they have seen and experienced, much of which may be at a pre-verbal level. This could also serve to implicitly reinforce their own practice with survivors in terms of non-verbal techniques of processing experience. It seems that there could be systems in place for returning disaster mental health wor...

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...London: Sage Publications.
Meggert, S. (2013). Not if but when the professional responds to disaster. [Class
Handout]. School of Applied Psychology, Counseling & Family Therapy, Antioch
University, Seattle, WA.
Meyers, D. (1994). Key concepts of disaster mental health. In Disaster response and recovery: A handbook for mental health professionals. Retrieved November 23, 2009, from http://www.empowermentzone.com/disaster.txt
Schor, L. I. (2002). What help have I to give? A therapist's journey to ground zero.
Voices: The Art and Science of Psychotherapy, 38(3).
Styron, W. (1990). Darkness Visible: A memoir of madness. New
York, NY: Random House.
SAMHSA, US Department of Health and Human Services. (2005). Tips for managing and preventing stress: A guide for emergency and disaster response workers.
Rockville, MD: SAMHSA.

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