Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

This installment of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Disaster Behavioral Health Information Series (DBHIS) focuses on first responders and, currently, Hurricane Sandy. Following is an annotated bibliography with links to helpful resources, as well as a section on helpful links to organizations, agencies, and other materials that address immediate disaster response.

Resources are organized as follows:

• Annotated Bibliography
• Hurricane-Specific Information
• Resources for Special Populations
• Children
• Older Adults
• Persons with Disabilities and Other Access and Functional Needs
• Disaster Response
• Guidance for First Responders
• Self-Care Tips for Disaster Responders
• Deployment Guidance
• Acute Interventions
• Traumatic Stress and Retraumization
• Compassion Fatigue
• Disaster Anniversaries

• Helpful Links
• Hurricane-Specific Information
• Specific Information for Special Populations
• Children
• Older Adults
• Persons with Disabilities and Other Access and Functional Needs
• General Disaster Response
• Deployment Guidance
• Psychological First Aid

Disaster Distress Helpline
The Disaster Distress Helpline is the Nation's first hotline dedicated to providing disaster crisis counseling. The toll-free helpline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This free, confidential, and multilingual crisis support service is available via telephone (1-800-985-5990) and SMS (text "TalkWithUs" to 66746) to U.S. residents who are experiencing psychological distress as a result of a natural or human-caused disaster.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
For information on suicide prevention, or if you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or visit http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/. 

For resources addressing children, youth, and disasters, please visit the SAMHSA Children and Youth DBHIS.

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