Developed by the World Health Organization, the AUDIT is a brief (10-item) screening tool that primary care practitioners, healthcare paraprofessionals, and individuals can use to screen others, or themselves, for problematic alcohol use. The AUDIT is provided in both interview and self-report versions and includes illustrations and measures of standard drinks.

Part of SAMHSA’s Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) series, this manual provides best-practice guidelines for practitioners offering mental health and substance use disorder treatment services to individuals experiencing homelessness. It defines types of intervention and prevention, stages of recovery, and forms of treatment through discussion and vignettes, as well as a literature review.

This training covers sources of stress for disaster workers other than first responders, including staff of federal agencies, state and local public health agencies, utilities, social services, repair and cleanup contractors, and voluntary organizations.

This set of online courses helps disaster responders and other disaster behavioral health professionals deliver culturally and linguistically competent services before, during, and after disasters. Users can register to participate in the curriculum for free, and they can receive continuing education credits upon completion.

This tip sheet explains how families are typically notified after a disaster that their relatives are missing or deceased, and it emphasizes the importance of working with local authorities on notification of families in a sensitive, appropriate way. It offers do’s and don’ts for disaster responders helping local and national authorities make families aware that their relatives are missing or dead following a disaster.

This tip sheet provides guidance on communicating with the media for responders serving communities affected by disasters that involved the death of many people. The tip sheet emphasizes the importance of preparation and of identifying a set number of people who will provide information to the media. It also offers tips specifically for media interviews.

Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, this app is designed to support responders in meeting the mental health and substance use-related needs of disaster-affected communities. It can be used to access preparedness and response resources and find local mental health and substance use disorder treatment services for referrals.

This online course offers approaches first responders can use to maximize safety in scenes where an individual is in mental illness- or substance use-related crisis. The 1.5-hour course covers mental and substance use disorders, as well as de-escalation techniques for working with an individual in crisis. The course is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Pre-hospital Continuing Education for continuing education credit.

The SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline is a 24-hour helpline staffed by trained counselors. The helpline can be used by any person, including a first responder, who is experiencing emotional distress due to a disaster. Responders may also want to make disaster survivors aware of this resource.

This free, 1-hour online course for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel provides information on stressors and mental health and substance use issues and conditions that are more common in fire and EMS. It also covers techniques for healthy coping and stress management. The course is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Pre-hospital Continuing Education for continuing education credit.

This web page provides information for people who are traveling out of the United States to support individuals and communities, including those that have been affected by disasters. It suggests steps for humanitarian aid workers to take before, during, and after travel to protect their physical and mental health.

Designed for a range of types of disaster responders, this pocket guide describes the cycle of stress in the body and highlights signs of stress. It also presents tips for managers to prevent and manage stress for themselves and their workers during disaster response, as well as offering simple, practical stress management techniques for responders.

This tip sheet describes how people with serious mental illness may experience and respond to disasters. It identifies ways in which people with serious mental illness are more vulnerable than others in disasters and problems they may face. It also offers tips for disaster planners and responders for helping people with serious mental illness and their families with disaster planning and in the aftermath of a disaster.

This flyer lists principles of Psychological First Aid that responders and others can use when working with people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Information about related resources is also provided.

This flyer lists principles of Psychological First Aid that responders and others can use when working with people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Information about related resources is also provided.

Provided for healthcare professionals and others responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, this hour-long webinar recording defines burnout, compassion fatigue, moral injury, and resilience; explains the typical timeline of reactions to disasters; and discusses crisis standards of care. It also covers ways to manage burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury, and to increase personal and organizational resilience.

This web page includes links to resources for healthcare professionals, leaders, and others responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. It features fact sheets on healthcare worker self-care and stress management and on leading teams as they respond to the pandemic, as well as webinars, websites, and publications on disaster behavioral health, Psychological First Aid, sleep health, and fostering team resilience.

At this web page, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies presents a range of resources for learning about and coping with stressors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. A section for healthcare workers, a key group of first responders in the pandemic, features webinars, tip sheets, and articles on topics including coping with pandemic-related stress, self-care, and strategies for resilience.

This brief (7-minute) training video teaches crisis counselors skills such as active listening to utilize during encounters with survivors. It also includes role-play scenarios to demonstrate ways to work with angry survivors. Although the video was designed for Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program staff, it may be useful to anyone providing crisis counseling after a disaster.

Written for mental health and substance use disorder treatment professionals, this online article identifies stressors that affect disaster response workers, including physical hazards and risk of loss of coworkers and friends, and highlights mental health risks of work in rescue and response. The article also highlights protective factors and approaches to stress management that have gained traction and proven effective among responders.

This part of the American Red Cross (ARC) website describes ways for people to volunteer with ARC before, during, and after disasters to improve community physical and mental health outcomes. For those interested in serving as disaster volunteers with ARC, free online disaster mental health training is provided.

This part of the EHS Today website is an information resource for disaster and other emergency responders. It features articles, webinars, and other resources about emergency management, disaster preparedness for businesses, specific disasters, fire safety, and other topics.

The ERHMS™ framework provides ideas for protecting disaster and emergency responders in an emergency of any size and in any setting. Designed for incident command staff members, leaders in response organizations, healthcare professionals, and responders themselves, the framework can be used to develop and implement a plan for monitoring and surveillance of responder health before, during, and after deployment.

Part of a program of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives encompass efforts to increase safety and well-being for firefighters and emergency medical services personnel. Initiative 13 focuses on psychological support. The web page dedicated to this initiative includes information and links to relevant resources.

This tip sheet describes how responding to acts of violence, civil unrest, or terrorism can affect responders. The tip sheet lists steps that leaders can take in support of the mental health and resilience of their teams, tips for workload and stress management, and signs of compassion fatigue and related issues.