About Us | Chapters | Advertising | Join
by Clint Christie, LMFT; Mindy Fox, LMFT; and the Crisis Response, Education, and Resource Committee
In honor of National Disaster Preparedness Month, CAMFT’s Crisis Response, Education, and Resource Committee (CRERC) would like to remind members about the importance of preparing themselves, their families, and their practices for disasters. Disasters can be natural such as fires, floods, or earthquakes, or human-created such as hazardous accidents or incidents of terrorism.
Physical preparedness is a vital component of physiological preparedness. It is never too early to take action to create an emergency plan, taking into consideration the impact disasters could have on your practice. You might want to encourage clients to prepare for disasters as well. While disasters are often unpredictable, what you and your loved ones can control is your level of preparedness.
The Ready Campaign The federal Department of Homeland Security launched a “Ready Campaign” in February 2003 as part of its “Ready.gov” website. Ready is a national public service campaign designed to educate and empower the American people to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate emergencies, including natural and human-created disasters. The goal of the campaign is to promote preparedness through public involvement.
Ready and its Spanish language version Listo ask individuals to do four key things: (1) Stay informed about the different types of emergencies that could occur and their appropriate responses; (2) Make a family emergency plan; (3) Build an emergency supply kit; and (4) Get involved in your community by taking action to prepare for emergencies.
Mental health reactions are typically the most enduring consequence of a disaster. Financial strains due to property and infrastructure damage as well as the personal and communal heartache caused by the loss of loved ones can be overwhelming for many people and lead to long-term consequences including stress-related mental health issues. Practically speaking, chances are good that many therapists will encounter a client or family that has been impacted by a disaster in their practice at least once over the course of their career.
Mental Health Professionals trained in crisis intervention can contribute to the emotional recovery of individuals, families, and communities. Crisis intervention is emergency psychological care aimed at assisting individuals in disaster situations when their normal coping capacities are overwhelmed. Crisis intervention targets the stress reactions to a traumatic event, which may involve physical, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual reactions. The goal of crisis intervention is to stabilize, reduce symptoms, and return to adaptive functioning or referral to psychological care.
Mental Health Professionals can build their knowledge and skills in crisis intervention by accessing the CAMFT CRERC website information page at Crisis Response Education and Resources. The Five Steps to Getting Started will guide visitors to (1) Assess their own readiness; (2) Explore opportunities for professional development; (3) Enroll in free on-line FEMA training; (4) Volunteer and train with the American Red Cross; and (5) Investigate crisis intervention models and best practices.
CAMFT members are encouraged to join the Community Crisis Response Professional Development Group, which seeks to build a network of LMFT crisis responders by sharing ideas, interesting seminars, and field experiences via forums and emails. Members are also encouraged to participate in their chapter crisis response committee or assist their chapter in developing such a committee to better support their communities, emergency responders, and local colleagues in the aftermath of a disaster. Guidelines for Chapters is a document that provides many helpful tips and suggestions about organizing chapter Crisis Response groups at the chapter board level.
The Crisis Response Education and Resources Committee is committed to serving CAMFT members and our other professional colleagues. Do not hesitate to contact committee members for more information or to ask questions at CrisisResponse@camft.org.