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Trauma, PTSD, Substance Use, and Neuroscience
Published in Tricia L. Chandler, Fredrick Dombrowski, Tara G. Matthews, Co-occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders, 2022
Tom Alexander, Mary C. Hoke, Karlene Barrett, Tricia L. Chandler
Working with individuals who have experienced a recent traumatic incident (natural disaster, accident, terrorist attack) can be difficult for front-line staff. It is recommended that counselors become aware of the application of psychological first aid to help enhance recovery of the individual while preventing long-term symptoms of PTSD. The World Health Organization provides free information about psychological first aid. This can be found at the following link: www.who.int/publications/i/item/psychological-first-aid As many counselors will use CBT-based approaches to work with individuals living with trauma, a specific trauma-focused CBT program has been created. Counselors interested in becoming certified in trauma-focused CBT can visit the following website: www.tfcbt.org/
Promoting Resilience While Mitigating Disease Transmission: An Australian COVID-19 Study
Published in Abbas Rajabifard, Greg Foliente, Daniel Paez, COVID-19 Pandemic, Geospatial Information, and Community Resilience, 2021
Freya M. Shearer, Niamh Meagher, Katitza Marinkovic Chavez, Lauren Carpenter, Alana Pirrone, Phoebe Quinn, Eva Alisic, James M. McCaw, Colin MacDougall, David J. Price, Lisa Gibbs
Next, the chapter reports on the social and emotional impact of COVID-19 on Australians. Internationally, it is agreed that five elements are essential to support people and communities confronted with large scale-disaster and loss in the immediate and mid-term [11]. These elements, which also underpin Psychological First Aid [12, 13], are the promotion of: a sense of safety; calm; a sense of self-and community efficacy; connectedness; and hope. We conclude with insights into how these elements interacted with people's mental health and wellbeing during pandemic restrictions.
Principles and theories
Published in Emily Ying Yang Chan, Disaster Public Health and Older People, 2019
Psychological first aid is a skill set that aims to reduce distress and negative health behaviour, and helps people cope with stressful and traumatic events in life. The Institute of Medicine, the National Institute of Mental Health and the WHO have recommended this method of intervention for use during or immediately after a disaster (Institute of Medicine, 2003). The concept of psychological first aid is similar to physical first aid and the skills can be learnt by anyone and should be taught to everyone without specialised mental health training, including public health practitioners, responders in disasters, military personnel and community volunteers.
Collaborative Approach to Supporting Staff in a Mental Healthcare Setting: “Always There” Peer Support Program
Published in Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 2022
Debby Morris, Jerneja Sveticic, Diana Grice, Kathryn Turner, Nicole Graham
Daily, mental health clinicians are faced with tragic and traumatic situations which can put their own mental health at risk without a meaningful intervention. As a result, “caring for the caregiver” (Johnson, 2019) is an increasingly important tenant of healthcare organisations. This paper detailed the process of the development and implementation of a peer-led support program in a large public mental health service. The Always There staff support started off as a pilot program within GCMHSS. Within the 2 years of its operation, a considerable number of the mental health workforce has undergone training on Psychological First Aid which demonstrated a significant improvement in their ability to support a peer in distress, and a steady uptake of the program was recorded. Further, the implementation of the program, alongside a suite of other initiatives, has contributed towards improving staff’s perception of organisational culture and support provided to staff in the aftermath of a clinical incident.
Psychological first aid (PFA) and disasters
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2021
George S. Everly, Jeffrey M. Lating
When confronted with a disaster mental health surge such as that encountered from disasters such as COVID-19, the United Nations (2020) has recommended ensuring the widespread availability of emergency mental health or crisis intervention services not only to frontline workers, but in a ‘whole-society’ continuum of care approach. They note that ‘mental health and psychosocial support must be available in any emergency’ and further recommend ‘… building human resource capacity to deliver mental health and social care, for example among community workers so that they can provide support’ (United Nations, 2020, pp. 3–4). Given (1) the well-documented shortage of disaster trained psychiatric and psychological services providers during disasters (Everly & Lating, in press), and (2) that the effectiveness of traditional multi-session counselling in disaster response has been questioned (Boscarino et al., 2005, pp. 9–22, 2011, pp. 91–99), the issue arises as to how to best meet the challenge of the disaster mental health surge. In this paper we suggest that psychological first aid (PFA) may be considered as a ‘first choice’ psychological crisis intervention during and after disasters to ‘narrow the gap’ between the demand and the availability of disaster-oriented psychological support services at the community level.
Disaster mental health: remembering the past, shaping the future
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2021
Surge capacity must be enhanced. In the wake of disaster, the surge for mental health services has historically exceeded mental health capacity. Norris and colleagues provide an exhaustive review of the psychological impact of disasters that serves to underscore the need for intervention services (Norris, Friedman, Watson, et al., 2002; Norris, Friedman, Watson, 2002). To meet these mental health demands, alternative approaches to psychological care and who delivers such care must be considered (Everly, 2020). The psychological crisis intervention and psychological first aid approach to responding to the distress of a disaster can be employed by mental health clinicians as well as those not trained in the mental health professions (Castellano & Plionis, 2006; Castellano, 2012; Wu et al., 2020). The American Psychiatric Association supported crisis intervention-based training and practice for disasters as early as 1954. ‘In all disasters, whether they result from the forces of nature or from enemy attack, the people involved are subjected to stresses of a severity and quality not generally encountered…It is vital for all disaster workers to have some familiarity with common patterns of reaction to unusual emotional stress and strain. These workers must also know the fundamental principles of coping most effectively with disturbed people. Although [these suggestions have] been stimulated by the current needs for civil defense against possible enemy action… These principles are essential for those who are to help the victims of floods, fires, tornadoes, and other natural catastrophes’ (APA, 1954, p. 5).