Disasters in Mental Health Services: A Primer for Practitioners

From Book News, Inc.
Licensed clinical nurse specialist Myers is an emergency services consultant to the Governor of California, and Wee is the disaster coordinator for the City of Berkeley. They explain how mental health clinicians, traumatologists, and paraprofessionals can use their knowledge and skills effectively in the context of natural or anthropogenic disaster.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Description
Disaster mental health is a growing field of practice designed to help victims and relief workers learn to effectively cope with the extreme stresses they will face in the aftermath of a disaster. The goal of disaster mental health is to prevent the development of long-term, negative psychological consequences, such as PTSD. This book assists clinicians and traumatologists in "making the bridge" between their clinical knowledge and skills and the unique, complex, chaotic, and highly political field of disaster. It combines information from a vast reservoir of prior research and literature with the authors' practical and pragmatic experience in providing disaster mental health services in a wide variety of disasters.


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This book helps clinicians and other responders to apply their existing knowledge to work in a disaster field. It presents a comprehensive model of disaster mental health service delivery, developed, refined, and employed by the authors in a variety of crises. The CODE-C model (Consultation, Outreach, Debriefing and defusing, Education, and Crisis counseling) is designed to be flexible and adaptive to any disaster situation, giving responders and emergency management professionals a variety of interventions tailored to work under stressful conditions. Particular attention is paid to the importance of avoiding burnout and compassion fatigue, and self-help tips and prevention strategies are included in the text. Disaster Mental Health Services is the most up-to-date treatment of the latest research and practice in the field, and is an invaluable resource in the preparation and training of clinicians and response personnel.


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