The ASPR ABC Division aims to ensure that all individuals and communities affected by disasters have access to the services they need for physical and mental health. Their mission is to ensure that all emergency preparedness, response, and recovery activities integrate and involve people with access and functional needs and people with mental and substance use disorders and support community capacity to recover from disasters.

This web page presents facts about the effects emergencies may have on mental health. It also describes the types of social and mental health problems survivors may experience and provides guidelines for an effective emergency response.

This toolkit is designed for organizations that would like to implement mental health programs in rural areas. It contains seven modules that focus on developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining rural mental health programs.

NARMH is a membership organization that works to develop and enhance mental health and substance use and misuse services in rural communities. This website contains information about NARMH membership, upcoming conferences, and publications related to rural mental health issues.

This web page provides statistics and information on the need for mental health services in rural America. It also gives an overview of the challenges of providing mental health services in rural communities, including accessibility, availability, and acceptability of services.

This website compiles resources for disaster responders from various disciplines on providing culturally competent Suicidal Thinking, Behavior, Attempts prevention and intervention services. The linked manuals and reports provide information on a broad range of topics in cultural competence in programs, practices, and services to prevent Suicidal Thinking, Behavior, Attempts and provide support to people with suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

The Crisis Text Line serves people across the United States experiencing any type of crisis and provides free, 24/7 emotional support and information through texting with a live, trained specialist. Individuals in the United States can access the Crisis Text Line by texting "HOME" to 741741. Responders can make disaster survivors aware of this resource.

This issue of the SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center’s Supplemental Research Bulletin discusses reactions children and youth may have to a natural disaster. It also describes a variety of mental health issues and mental disorders that may occur, as well as substance use and misuse issues among adolescents, and risk and protective factors.

This web page provides definitions of serious mental illness (SMI) and serious emotional disturbance (SED) and statistics on prevalence of these conditions in the United States. It also features links to additional information and reports that further describe the disorders considered SMIs or SED.

This article describes the reactions children may have after experiencing a catastrophic event, such as a natural disaster. It also describes what may put a child at risk of developing PTSD, and the symptoms they may experience.

This web page discusses what complex trauma is and when a child may be at risk of experiencing it. It also provides links to resources about the effects of complex trauma, screening tools, and interventions for children experiencing this type of trauma.

This web page describes disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, which occurs in children. It lists signs and symptoms and provides a link to an informational video. It also features information on risk factors, treatment and therapies, and how to find out more about participating in clinical trials.

In this post to its Public Health Matters blog, CDC explains why children are more vulnerable to mental health issues and conditions during a disaster or emergency. It also discusses CDC’s At-Risk Task Force (ARTF), which ensures the identification and prioritization of the mental and physical health needs of at-risk populations.

This document reports on the findings of a project to understand issues in mental and substance use disorder services in rural areas. It covers barriers to mental health and substance use disorder service delivery, model programs and policy strategies, and the roles of telehealth and state and local organizations in service delivery in rural communities.

This report describes a study to identify promising practices for rural mental health and substance use-related programs across the United States. The report explains the importance of promising practices, defines and describes promising practices, and presents in Appendix C the programs included in the study.

Part of SAMHSA’s Technical Assistance Publication (TAP) series, this handbook provides programs that treat people with mental and substance use disorders with information and tools for disaster planning.

The C-SSRS is a short questionnaire that can be administered quickly in the field by responders with no formal mental health training, and it is relevant in a wide range of settings and for individuals of all ages. The website provides information about the C-SSRS, also known as the Columbia Protocol, including the history of its development and how it can be used.

This web page provides an overview of the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and the risk factors that may make it more likely for children to develop PTSD. It also describes the signs of PTSD in children and adolescents and different techniques to treat PTSD.

The MHBG provides funds to grantees states and U.S. territories to provide comprehensive, community-based mental health services to adults with serious mental illnesses and to children with Serious Emotional Disturbance and to monitor progress in implementing systems through which these services are provided.