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Disaster Behavioral Health Information Series Resource Center
The SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center (DTAC) provides various resources and useful information for those in the disaster behavioral health field.
All resources for which links are provided are in the public domain or have been authorized for noncommercial use. Hardcopies of some materials may be ordered. If you use content from resources in this collection in program materials, you should acknowledge the source of the materials. Nothing in these other than SAMHSA resources constitutes a direct or indirect endorsement by SAMHSA or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of any non-federal entity’s products, services, or policies.
Did you know you can download your search results? Simply apply search filters and then click on the Download Filtered Resources link to obtain a .csv file with the resources you have found, including each resource’s name, description, date, URL, and source.
This playlist from the Capacity Building Center for Tribes includes five recorded webinars focused on tribal trauma and resilience. Each webinar focuses on different factors that affect tribal mental and behavioral health, including protective community factors, historic trauma, trauma-informed child welfare, and secondary traumatic stress.
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 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.
This article from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health proposes a trauma-informed approach for healthcare practitioners unfamiliar with the effects disasters and trauma can have on individuals and communities. The resource prioritizes the needs of individuals affected by disasters and coping with traumatic stress to advise healthcare practices and avoid retraumatization.
This web page highlights the importance of practicing cultural respect when providing health services. It promotes resources healthcare providers can use to practice cultural respect and pursue culturally competent services in their practices, noting that cultural respect facilitates the provision, acceptance, and success of health treatments.
This tip sheet explores the signs and symptoms of stress and compassion fatigue experienced by individuals providing healthcare services. It highlights the importance of self-care and stress management and provides tips for staff and team leads to address stress and compassion fatigue.
This resource collection includes materials to help both mental health treatment professionals and first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Resources address helping individuals manage stress during the pandemic, self-care, and approaches to assistance such as Psychological First Aid.
This series of videos covers topics in suicide prevention that are presented by leaders in the field. Lasting no more than 6 minutes, each video touches on a key idea in preventing suicide and emotional distress.
This web page provides information on the factors that may lead to suicide. It lists warning signs that someone may be suicidal based on their behavior, mood, and what they talk about. It also describes the health factors, environmental factors, and historical factors that put a person more at risk for becoming suicidal.
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 tip sheet explores the signs and symptoms of stress and compassion fatigue experienced by individuals providing healthcare services. It highlights the importance of self-care and stress management and provides tips for staff and team leads to address stress and compassion fatigue.
Designed for healthcare workers, this 1-hour webinar recording covers ways to manage stress (and support colleagues in stress management) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar focuses on the Stress First Aid framework for self-care, stress management, and peer support.
This 5-hour online course prepares responders and others working with disaster survivors to use Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) to help survivors manage their reactions and cope with difficulties in the weeks and months after a disaster. The course covers the basics of delivering SPR and the core skills of SPR. Users must create a free account with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Learning Center to access the course.
The Suicide Prevention Resource Center offers technical assistance, training, and materials to increase the knowledge and expertise of suicide prevention practitioners and other professionals serving people at risk for suicide. Resources include information on school-based prevention programs, a best practices registry, and state information.
Developed for healthcare and social services workers, this set of modules includes links to videos, checklists, and toolkits to help professionals in health care and social services recognize their stress levels and engage in self-care and resilience building. The three modules guide participants through discussion concerning compassion fatigue, stress mitigation, and strategies for coping, and include links to relevant resources and trainings.
Developed by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, or ASPR (formerly the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response), this document provides self-paced learning modules on self-care and disaster behavioral health. Topics covered include compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress, organizational wellness, and cognitive tools. Related resources are also provided.
Created for healthcare professionals providing services to individuals or communities affected by disaster events, this recorded webinar explores special considerations that must be addressed for community members who have previous trauma experience or impacts and struggle with homelessness or poverty. It highlights the need for Mental Health First Aid and explores the differences between disaster trauma and other traumatic experiences.
This tip sheet describes grief and the grieving process, both of which are often associated with disasters. It suggests ways to support survivors, as well as highlighting signs of complicated or traumatic grief or other grief that may require professional mental health care.
This journal article explores the issues that occur when medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder is disrupted by a disaster. Through interviews with health professionals and emergency managers, it identifies the elements that should be included in disaster planning in relation to medication-assisted treatment.
This tip sheet describes compassion fatigue and its components, burnout and secondary traumatic stress. It offers tips for coping with compassion fatigue, and it also describes compassion satisfaction and notes ways to foster compassion satisfaction among members of your response team.
This tip sheet describes compassion fatigue and its components, burnout and secondary traumatic stress. It offers tips for coping with compassion fatigue, and it also describes compassion satisfaction and notes ways to foster compassion satisfaction among members of your response team.
This web page provides information on emergency wound care after a natural disaster, including basic steps that healthcare providers can use to asses and manage wounds and rashes.
Designed for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, independent living facilities, and continuing care retirement communities, this toolkit contains a suite of resources with information about mental health and suicide prevention. It includes a manager’s guide, fact sheets for residents, and hands-on training tools for professional staff and family members.
The paper presents findings from a survey of health care workers at nine hospitals in Toronto, Canada, following the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Results showed that workers who treated SARS patients were more likely than other workers to experience long-term adverse outcomes, such as burnout, psychological distress, and posttraumatic stress.