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This web page explores the impacts working with disaster survivors may have on rescue workers, volunteers, healthcare professionals, and journalists and provides strategies for resilience and self-care. It explores tips for avoiding retraumatization of people receiving services and discusses the importance of professional wellness, noting possibilities for burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious traumatization.
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This web page offers information on the warning signs of emotional distress after an individual has experienced a natural or human-caused disaster. Warning signs are identified, and the page includes links to information about populations at greater risk and suggestions for coping with traumatic events and disasters.
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This web page explains that responders face heightened risk of mental illness and substance use disorders due to the nature of their work. It identifies signs of stress; ways to manage stress; and related resources, including online trainings and tip sheets.
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This free online course is designed to help first responders cope with the opioid overdose crisis. The course highlights the mental and physical stressors first responders face due to the crisis, as well as coping and stress management strategies and resources.
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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.
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This free, 1-hour online course for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel provides information on stressors and behavioral health issues and conditions that are more common in fire and EMS. It also covers techniques for healthy coping and stress management.
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Designed for law enforcement officers, this free online course describes common stressors in the line of duty and identifies ways to manage stress. The course highlights signs and symptoms of stress, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicidal thoughts that law enforcement officers may notice in themselves or their coworkers. It also provides information on where and how to seek additional help.
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At this web page, DHS details First Responder Capability, a program dedicated to providing first responders with technical assistance and inventive solutions to challenges caused by the nature of their jobs. The web page provides information on grants and training, fact sheets, and additional topical research and resources.
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This resource collection includes web pages, manuals, guides, technical assistance documents, mobile apps, and training on topics including responding to a radiation emergency, responding to a nuclear detonation, triaging survivors, and managing hazardous materials. Items may be useful both to responders and those who manage responders and response efforts.
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This tip sheet describes some of the challenges involved in disaster response work and how these challenges may make responders more vulnerable to substance misuse. It lists signs of substance misuse, suggests ways to address substance misuse issues in yourself or someone you care about, and identifies resources for additional support.
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This page from the SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center emphasizes the importance of stress management for responders so they can stay fit to serve disaster-affected communities. The page presents key concepts of disaster behavioral health, encourages responders to deploy as part of an integrated response system and team, and highlights training available to prepare for deployment.
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This resource provides guidance for preventing and managing stress before, during, and after a disaster response assignment. It explores signs of stress and highlights tips individuals can use throughout disaster response and recovery to increase resilience.
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This web page details the collaborative National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and International Association of Fire Fighters Emergency Responder Training Program, tailored to address the occupational safety and behavioral health needs of emergency responders working in fire departments across the nation. The web page provides additional details on the importance of firefighting training.
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The SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline is a 24-hour helpline staffed by trained counselors. The helpline can be used by any person, including a responder, who is experiencing emotional distress due to a disaster. Responders may also want to make disaster survivors aware of this resource.
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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.
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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 health.
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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.
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This guide provides insights and recommendations for disaster responders and first responders, assisting them in effectively handling stress in crisis response situations. It outlines the physiological impact of stress and offers suggestions for both individuals and organizations to encourage and participate in stress management practices.
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This online resource notes the importance of resilience in coping with the stress of disaster response. It defines and describes individual resilience and lists ways for responders to build resilience before, during, and after deployment.
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This recorded training features subject matter experts who explore the impacts of mass violence or domestic terrorism incidents on law enforcement officers. The training highlights the effect of vicarious trauma on first responders and provides strategies for organizations to support their personnel and mitigate the effects.
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This article, available both online and as an audio recording, shares the experiences of mental health professionals responding to multiple natural disasters. The article sheds light on the immense stress and personal and vicarious trauma disaster response teams may face.
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This publication presents strategies and actions that have proven successful for police departments developing and improving wellness programs. As such, it offers guidance for police department wellness programs in providing and improving services. Suggestions relate to needs assessment, training, peer support and employee assistance programs, and increasing participation in wellness programs.
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This report describes how law enforcement departments and offices responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in its first year (March 2020 through March 2021). It features information and key takeaways for readers to use to prepare for and respond to future public health emergencies. Although this report was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, it includes information that will be helpful in the event of future pandemics.
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This guide provides First Responders agencies with the steps to follow to ensure good health for their workforce. The authors offer an overview of occupational health and safety, review comprehensive occupational health and safety programs, discuss assessing current efforts, and present challenges and provide recommendations for overcoming them.
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The FEMA app provides users with features such as severe weather alerts from the National Weather Service and information to stay safe, maps of disaster resources, online resources for applying for disaster assistance, and safety tips and preparedness reminders.
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