This guide was developed to assist institutions of higher education in creating and updating emergency plans that are responsive to active shooter situations, as well as natural disasters. This resource was jointly developed by the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services so that campus communities can align their emergency planning practices with those at the national, state, and local levels.

This guide highlights the need for gender-sensitive approaches and provides information on gender issues in disaster management. The document describes the approaches of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies when integrating gender into the disaster management cycle and strengthening accountability for gender impact. The guide also includes international case studies.

This website provides information on Mental Health First Aid, including how to become certified by taking the interactive 12-hour course.

This fact sheet contains information for disaster managers and planners on mitigation and preparedness concerning women and disasters. The document discusses the impact of disasters on women, women’s vulnerability during disasters, important information for emergency response and recovery organizations, and systems to use when helping women.

This fact sheet can be used by anyone preparing for or responding to the mental health consequences of disasters.

This course helps participants better recognize and manage the symptoms of psychological distress and prepares them to apply basic Psychological First Aid (PFA) to children, the elderly, the general population, and themselves. The course defines PFA and presents its basic principles, features demonstrations of PFA, and covers how individuals may respond to stress associated with a disaster.

This article discusses the increase in state and local government support for mental health first aid and suggests training employees to be instructors as a cost-effective way to train an agency.

The goal of this paper is to develop consensus-based guidelines for training in mental health and psychosocial interventions for trauma-exposed populations in the international arena.

These guidelines enable humanitarian actors to plan, establish and coordinate a set of minimum multi-sectoral responses to protect and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being in the midst of an emergency.

This document was created for parents and other caregivers to help them understand what their child may go through after a disaster, and it offers ways to help children following disasters. Basics are taught, and space is provided to write down a child’s answers to questions and behavior, as well as to come up with ways to support a child in feeling better and coping. [Authors: Schreiber, M., and Gurwitch, R.]

This guidance document is based on an international expert consensus workshop that yielded guidelines for immediate, intermediate, and long-term response following disasters and mass violence.

This website provides information on Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), including what it is, the research and evidence for MHFA, its impact, and information on how to become certified.

A comprehensive compilation of mental health first aid guidelines, including tips for helping adults and children through a disaster or traumatic event.

The Mental Health First Aid program, according to its website, risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone both in crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.

This fact sheet discusses the physical and mental health issues that affect each gender differently. The document also stresses the importance of maintaining a gender perspective in emergencies, how to provide gender-responsive health services in emergencies, how to address the physical and psychosocial trauma of gender-based violence in emergencies, and the guiding principles for providing support to survivors.

This 2-hour training describes the stressors that response work may involve and possible consequences of stress. It equips responders with an arsenal of techniques for addressing and managing stress and heightening the ability to cope with challenges.

In this 1-hour course, information is provided on mental health assessment and intervention with disaster survivors, as well as on making sure that services provided after a disaster are culturally appropriate.

Part of the Psychological First Aid (PFA) Field Operations Guide, this handout provides parents with tips for how to respond to an adolescent child after a disaster. The document includes adolescents’ possible reactions, how parents can respond, and examples of what parents can do and say.

The National Medical Reserve Corps Mental Health Work Group recommends PFA as a standard model of mental health intervention in early response to disasters and other traumatic events.

This adaptation of the guide gives community religious professionals an introduction and overview to PFA, described as an evidence-informed approach for assisting children, adolescents, adults, and families in the aftermath of disaster and terrorism. The manual also provides information on core actions of PFA that community religious professionals can use following a disaster.

This guide provides the details of Psychological First Aid (PFA), which it explains is "an evidence-informed modular approach to help children, adolescents, adults, and families in the immediate aftermath of disaster and terrorism." PFA can be used by a range of people responding to disaster, including those who are not mental health professionals.

This 79-page guide provides information on PFS-S, an adaptation of the PFA evidence-based intervention for school personnel. It provides information on how to use PFA-S to support child and adolescent students, adults, and families in the aftermath of a school crisis, disaster, or terrorism event. [Authors: Brymer, M., Taylor, M., Escudero, P., Jacobs, A., Kronenberg, M., Macy, R., Mock, L., Payne, L., Pynoos, R., and Vogel, J.]

At the 7th Annual Tribal Emergency Preparedness Conference in 2010, Dr. Randal Beaton delivered this presentation, which describes Psychological First Aid (PFA), an evidence-informed approach to providing assistance to disaster survivors, and how PFA can be customized for American Indian individuals and communities. Click on the link and scroll down to "Dr. Randy Beaton, Psychological First Aid Applications With American Indians."

This guide provides the details of the psychological first aid model, which uses an evidence-informed approach for assisting children, adolescents, adults, and families in the aftermath of disaster and terrorism.

The guide was adapted from the Psychological First Aid Operations Guide (2nd Edition), with permission from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the National Center for PTSD.