Mental Health Responders for Crisis, Trauma, and Disaster Events
Critical incident responders come from a variety of fields. Rescue workers (e.g., police, firefighters, emergency medical professionals) are often the first-line responders. However, the helping professionals and volunteers from emergency response organizations are often just behind the first-line responders, allocating resources, assessing situations, and addressing mental health needs of survivors.
Practitioners respond to a variety of critical incidents, such as natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes); human-made disasters (e.g., oil spills and chemical accidents); acts of terrorism (e.g., the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11); crises (e.g., job loss or surviving an airplane crash); as well as other trauma-causing events (e.g., childhood abuse, war, and hostage situations). The roles and responsibilities of responders vary, depending on the specifics of each situation. A helping professional responds differently when working with a natural disaster survivor than he or she would when working with a sexual abuse survivor. In this Discussion, you compare the different roles and responsibilities of responders when responding to various critical incidents.
For this Discussion, select two critical incidents to which helping professionals respond. Think about the similarities and differences in the roles and responsibilities of responders, depending on the critical incident to which they are responding.
By Day 4
Post a brief description of each of the two critical incidents you selected to which helping professionals respond. Then, explain the similarities and differences between the roles and responsibilities of those responders. Finally, share the insights you gained or conclusions you drew based on the comparison.
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the resources.
