Provided through Prepare Iowa, a collaboration of the Iowa Department of Health and the University of Iowa, this 1-hour course is intended for anyone who may come into professional contact with disaster victims. The objectives of the course include defining disaster and trauma and understanding how proximity to a disaster event affects the potential for a traumatic response.

Designed for public health workers including mental and substance use disorder providers and practitioners, healthcare providers and practitioners, first responders, and emergency planners, this 1-hour training provides an overview of the psychological challenges communities may face after a disaster.

This informational handout provides an overview of how children and adolescents may react to natural and human-caused disasters that they experience as traumatic. It describes the reactions that are typical among specific age ranges and offers tips for parents and other caregivers, school staff, health care practitioners, and community members to help children and adolescents cope.

This guide discusses culture in general and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) cultures specifically, highlights risk and protective factors associated with AI/AN cultures, and offers guidance to AI/AN communities in preventing suicide. Tools for community suicide prevention and assessment of risk and protective factors are included in the guide.

This suicide assessment can be used by mental health professionals during their first contact with an individual at risk of suicidal behavior and completed suicide. The five-step assessment includes identification of risk and protective factors; conducting an inquiry about suicidality; determining level of risk and selecting an appropriate intervention; and documenting the process, including a follow-up plan.

This web page provides an overview of how a disaster or traumatic event may affect a person with serious mental illness (SMI) differently because of the way he or she experiences a disaster. It also offers information that suggests that people with SMI are more likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following disasters than people without SMI.

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 website features several Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) screeners, including the PHQ-9, a widely used scale to assess for depression that also asks about suicidal thoughts. This tool is often used in primary care settings. An instruction manual available for download from the website presents recommended follow-up based on various types of responses to the PHQ.

This fact sheet discusses general principles for disaster mental health response, including the importance of identifying survivors with psychiatric disorders and providing them treatment. It also introduces frameworks for disaster mental health response, and case identification for posttraumatic stress disorder, the most common psychiatric disorder after disasters.

This comprehensive chart shows screening and assessment tools for alcohol and drug misuse. Tools are categorized by substance type, audience for screening, and administrator. The chart also provides other assessment tools that may be useful for providers doing substance use work.

This recorded webinar explains how trauma-informed care can be implemented across large healthcare systems to effectively address patient needs, support improved health outcomes, and avoid retraumatization. Experts from the healthcare field contribute to this resource to share their experiences with trauma-informed systems and implementation processes that influence both the healthcare system and organizational culture.

This fact sheet explains how youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are at an increased risk for a variety of traumatic experiences. It covers the difficulty youth with IDD can have in communicating their needs and behaviors providers should look out for to better understand what is being communicated. The fact sheet also covers screening and assessment, as well as diagnostic considerations and treatment.