Insight Matters
Winter, 2003

Disasters and Communities: Managing Mental Health Response and Recovery
Marion Sherman, M.D., Chair, Ad Hoc Committee on Disaster Mental Health

Heads up! Mark your calendars for an OPA FEMA training April 24-25, 2003!
The Ohio Psychiatric Association (OPA), in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) continues to move forward with preparing for disaster readiness in Ohio. On February 6-7, 2003 Tony Speier, Ph.D., presented a training, The Impact of Disasters and Bio-Terrorist Events on Communities: Responding to the Unexpected, on understanding and managing disaster response and recovery at the Holiday Inn, Worthington, Ohio. ODMH sponsored the training for behavioral health clinicians to address victim, responder, and community needs in disaster and terrorist events.

The February training allowed 150 mental health clinicians, including psychiatrists, other physicians, psychologists, licensed counselors, social workers and nurses to address behavioral health needs identified by ODMH, in alignment with key objectives of the Physicians and Professional Volunteers Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Health Committee, chaired by Nick Baird, Director of Health, and Fred Daily, Director for Agriculture. This was a significant training event, but unfortunately left some applicants closed out of the training due to size limitations. A similar repeat training, sponsored by the OPA, for OPA members, has been scheduled for April 24-25, 2003. This future training will focus particularly on the physician as the disaster mental health responder.

The following describes the February training, so that members may decide about the April OPA training. The April OPA training will be considerably smaller, to allow for increased interaction during the two day training, with a maximum of fifty participants.

As Dr. Speier stated, "Disaster events are often unexpected and always traumatic. Community pre-incident planning before a disaster can mitigate the impact of the catastrophic event on individuals and communities across a broad spectrum of social, administrative, and physical infrastructure. Catastrophic incidents impact all persons who experience such events. The disaster mental health and trauma literature has documented the debilitating emotional impact of disasters over numerous disaster incidents throughout the world and the ameliorative effects of preparedness planning. This (training) addresses the nature of disaster incidents, the scope of response and recovery activities following such incidents. Specific emphasis (in this training) is placed on understanding the emotional impact of natural and man-made incidents, the various phases of human response following a catastrophic incident as well as the role of mental health professionals as members of the response and recovery community.

The training consists of the following components:
· Disaster events, common reactions, and crisis counseling;
· Definition of a disaster, classification of a disaster, and disaster phases and reactions;
· Understanding the character of catastrophic events, and the context of disaster incidents;
· Federal, State and Local Disaster Planning Strategies, including FEMA Resources, roles and responsibilities, chaos and planning....and "Who do we blame?"
· Responding to a disaster: The FEMA/CMHS Model, including, disaster Facts-survivor issues, critical disaster stressors, crisis counseling programs, post-disaster interventions, and reactions to a Disaster;
· Bio-terrorism Incidents
· Collaborative Planning and Preparedness
· At-risk population groups
· Short-term vs. long-term response

Participants learn:
· Disasters share many commonalities as traumatizing and disruptive incidents, however, all disaster events are unique as incidents within individual communities.
· What, from a psychological perspective, constitutes a disaster incident, how various disaster incidents are classified, and the phases of human reaction to such incidents.
· How disaster incidents interact with the fabric of communities and individual lives.
· The organizational structure of disaster response.
· The role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and its state and local level counterparts, with emphasis placed on the role of mental health resources within this structure.
· How disasters impact individuals from both an instrumental and psychological perspective, with disaster stressors discussed in detail. Specific emphasis is given to intervention strategies such as the Center for Mental Health Services Crisis Counseling Model. Individual and community reactions to disaster response and recovery phases are discussed.
· The unique features of terrorists events, including issues related to preparedness as a primary response strategy toward terrorist activity.

Watch your OPA mail for upcoming registration brochure and directions. Remember to register promptly, as there will be size limitations. OPA members will be given priority in registration, as well as pricing discounting. Thank you for your ongoing vitality in this important issue for Ohio.

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