Strategies to promote mental health and resilience against stress and trauma, both for the individual and her community, during or following a disaster.
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are developmental disorders that can affect how children communicate, interact with other people, and perceive their environments. While the number of people with an ASD is unknown, CDC estimates that 1 in 110 children is affected. Children with ASD may have extreme difficulty communicating and experience threats to their personal safety during disasters.
The Minnesota Department of Health adapted the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder's Psychological First Aid (PFA) course into a brief training for emergency responders. Minnesota shortened the original training to a 2-4 hour course that could meet core competency requirements for disaster behavioral health responders and address the needs of specific local audiences. Two presentations were tailored to K-12 schools and local health departments.
Light Our Way provides spiritual health tools to assist disaster relief workers while they are performing and recovering from their response efforts. The document is noteworthy, because it uses concrete and useful advice that may be particularly valuable in enhancing resiliency among faith-based and community organizations. Much of the information on emotional health and cross-cultural communications also may be useful for a secular audience. It should be noted that the listed funders and task force members for this document represent Christian denominations and United Jewish Communities.
The parenting tips included in this document reflect the current national standards for psychological first aid training. The document presents a nicely organized matrix useful for identifying various responses to disaster by age and behavior type. Although the guide discusses disasters in a general context, the psychological first aid materials on impact of media coverage and loss of loved ones may be particularly relevant to a pandemic situation.
The Preparedness and Resiliency materials from the American Red Cross address the mental well-being of adults and children following a disaster. The document on coping strategies for children is not specific to a pandemic situation, yet it contains accurate guidance for caregivers who are dealing with a child's experience of trauma or loss. An especially useful part of the guide is the list of age-based responses to trauma and triggers for when parents should seek professional help.
Updated August 2010
The Field Guide is a compendium of mental health tools that describes the range of behavioral health responses to disaster and offers suggestions on how to interact with and respond to victims. It provides a strong overview both for mental health professionals and for disaster responders who may lack a background or training in behavioral health. The guide also describes an exposure hierarchy that lists several specific at-risk groups for behavioral health problems and prioritizes groups for intervention.
The manual provides specific guidance on behavioral health preparedness for a spectrum of extreme events. Although the information is not specific to pandemic preparedness, the guidebook includes several components related to communicating about hazards and addressing behavioral health issues that special populations face. The booklet's relevance stems from its use of nuance and depth in communicating the topic, and the materials use a repetitive format to identify behavioral health responses to disaster (i.e., Coping & Confidence, Communication, Connection, and Self-reliance).
The guidebook offers a matrix to provide guidance for medical communications and coordination of public information efforts for mental health needs during an emergency. The mental health talking points contain universal messages that can be adapted by a state or local health department for response during most incidents.
