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Disaster Training Manual
(Beginning to Intermediate Level)
Developed by: This publication was produced under an interagency agreement between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Portland Ridley served as CMHS publications and editorial coordinator.
15 Credit CE Course - $50 to complete post-test and receive 15 CE credits. Manual can be downloaded at no charge.
This Manual is intended as a companion resource to Disaster Response and Recovery: A Handbook for Mental Health Professionals (CMHS, 1994). While the Handbook provides practical information for planning and implementing disaster mental health services, this Manual focuses more on what workers need to know to provide those services. This Manual includes sections on how communities and survivors respond to disaster, potential at-risk groups, and stress management for staff. Recognizing the necessity for service providers to quickly develop competency in a new context, topic presentations are focused and brief. Additional readings are suggested in the text and listed at the end of sections. These have been selected because they provide synthesized research reviews and practical suggestions, and are readily available.
Another purpose of the Manual is to efficiently assist mental health administrators, planners, and disaster mental health trainers as they develop the training component of their crisis-counseling project. Specific disaster mental health training is critical for all professional and paraprofessional personnel associated with a disaster mental health recovery program. This training can guide crisis counseling project development so that the wisdom gathered from twenty-five years of disaster mental health intervention is reflected in program services. A course outline for comprehensive disaster mental health training complete with overheads and handouts is in Section 6 of this Manual. The overheads and handouts have been prepared for immediate use by the trainer. Additional skill training for paraprofessional staff is described in Section 7.
Download and read this manual at no charge.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:
- Understand human behavior in disaster, including factors affecting individual’s response to disaster, phases of disaster, at-risk groups, concepts of loss and grief, post disaster stress and the disaster recovery process.
- Understand the stress inherent in disaster work and learn to recognize and manage that stress.
- Learn the organizational aspects of disaster response and recovery and how to link survivors with the appropriate services.
- Understand the need for outreach activities.
- Learn the different disaster responses among special populations.
- Understand the necessity for cultural awareness in disaster mental health.
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