Early Psychological Intervention

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Early Psychological Intervention

• National VOADs
• Emotional and Spiritual
• Care Committee

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Background and History
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EPI Committee

• American Red Cross
• International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
• National Organization for Victim Assistance
• The Salvation Army

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National VOAD Members Services

• American Red Cross, Susan Hamilton
• International Critical Incident Stress
  Foundation, Donald Howell
• National Organization for Victims Assistance,
  Cheryl Guidry Tyiska
• The Salvation Army, Kevin Ellers
• Tom Davis, Moderator, Church World Service

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American Red Cross
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American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health

• To respond to disaster mental health needs
  across the continuum of disaster preparedness,
  response and recovery.
• Physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral,
• and spiritual reactions

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Red Cross DMH Interventions

• Screening, assessment and triage
• Crisis Intervention
• Psychological support
• Advocacy
• Education
• Problem solving
• Referral
• Casualty support
• Monitoring and mitigating organizational stress

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Red Cross DMH Training and Resources

• Foundations of Disaster Mental Health
• Psychological First Aid
• Disaster Mental Health Overview
• DMH Activity Handbook
• Disaster Response Handbook
• Brochures

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DMH Tier I Eligibility Requirements

• Licensed Behavioral Health Professionals
• Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselors
• Mental Health Counselors
• Physicians
• Nurses
• Pastoral Counselors
• Rehabilitation Counselors
• Occupational Therapists

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DMH Tier II Eligibility Requirements

• Students and Other Trainees
• Team Deployment
• Peer Support for Mental Health Consumers

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The Salvation Army
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The Salvation Army Concepts for Disaster Mental
Health
Presenter Kevin Ellers, M.Div. Territorial
Disaster Services Coordinator Central Territory
Caution Hurting People Ahead
Sensitive Caregivers Only
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ESC Team Mission

• Emotional and spiritual care (ESC) teams exist to
  utilize the skills of clergy, chaplains, mental
  health professionals, and trained crisis
  responders to provide effective emotional and
  spiritual care to meet the disaster-related needs
  of disaster responders and disaster affected
  families and individuals within disaster
  operations. ESC teams utilize crisis
  intervention principles of psychological first
  aid to effectively integrate these principles
  within ESC teams for appropriate care throughout
  the disaster continuum from the immediate to
  long-term recovery process.

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ESC Organization
Where Do I Fit?
I
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Incident Command SystemOrganization Chart
Policy Group
Incident Commander
Public Information
Liaison
Command Staff
Emotional Spiritual Care
Safety
General Staff
Logistics
Finance Admin
Planning
Operations
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Key ESCO Responsibilities

• Assessment
• Development of an ESC plan
• Team formation
• Training
• Coordination
• Liaison
• Supervision team care

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Key Principles

• Outreach
• Crisis intervention
• Strength/solution focused
• Stealth mental health services
• Integration within practical services

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ESC Team Interventions

• Assessment, screening, triage
• Disaster worker and survivor care
• Psychological 1st Aid
• Companioning
• Building indigenous support systems
• Education
• Liaison
• Spiritual services
• Referral

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ESC Training Experience
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Emotional Spiritual Care A Spectrum of
Experience Training
Emotional Spiritual Care Leadership
Team Trained experienced within individual
discipline crisis response ministry disaster
ESCO
Specialized disaster training, experience
crisis response certification

• Target Populations
• Children
• Seniors
• Mentally ill
• Emergency responders
• Families crisis dynamics

• Specialized training
• Grief
• Trauma
• Stress reduction/compassion fatigue
• Mass casualty
• Group work

ESC Team
Trained crisis peer support Lay counselors
ministers, deacons, elders, peer support
Professional Disciplines Clergy, certified
chaplains, mental health, medical, massage
therapists
Priesthood of all believers 1 Peter 29 All EDS
workers provide some elements of ESC Ministry of
presence, practical compassionate care, listening
All Workers
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Crisis Response Training Courses

• The following crisis intervention courses are
  recommended for ESC team members
• Individual Crisis Intervention Peer Support
• Group Crisis Intervention
• Or NOVA Basic Crisis Response Training
• Emotional Spiritual Care in Disasters
• Grief Following Trauma
• Advanced Group Crisis Intervention
• Pastoral Crisis Intervention
• Suicide Prevention, Intervention Postvention
• Strategic Planning

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ICISF

• The International Critical Incident Stress
  Foundation, Inc. (ICISF) is a non-profit, open
  membership foundation dedicated to the prevention
  and mitigation of disabling stress through
  Comprehensive Crisis Intervention Systems
• Education, training, consultation and support
  services

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ICISF

• Comprehensive Crisis Intervention Systems
• Pre-Event Planning/Preparation
• Assessment
• Strategic Planning
• Individual Crisis Intervention

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ICISF - Comprehensive Crisis Intervention Systems

• Large Group Intervention
• Small Group Intervention
• Family Crisis Intervention
• Organizational/Community Consultation
• Pastoral Crisis Intervention
• Follow-Up/Referral

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ICISF Pastoral Curriculums

• Pastoral Crisis Intervention I
• Pastoral Crisis Intervention II
• Grief Following Trauma
• Emotional Spiritual Care in Disasters

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National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA)

• National Crisis Response Team
• Trained volunteers including mental health
  specialists, victim advocates, public safety
  professionals, clergy/chaplains and others
• Teams fit demographics of impacted community
• Travel and lodging expenses sent within 24 hours
  of a request at no cost to local community
• Primary Team Tasks
• Help local decision-makers identify all the
  groups at risk of experiencing trauma
• Train local caregivers to reach out to those
  groups after the CRT has departed
• Facilitate individual and/or group crisis
  intervention sessions to help victims start to
  cope with their distress.
• Contact
• (703) 535-NOVA (800) TRY-NOVA (879-6682)
• www.trynova.org/crt

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NOVA Training

• Basic (3 or 5 days) (theory, practical
  application)
• Basic required to join local or state teams
• Advanced (3 days) (advanced theory, primarily
  experiential)
• Training for Trainers (50 hours)
• Info on Training at http//www.trynova.org/crt/tra
  ining/
• Info on Credentialing at http//www.trynova.org/nc
  rcp/

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EPI Points of Consensus

• Early Psychological Intervention is valued
• EPI is a multi-component system to meet the needs
  of those impacted
• Specialized training in early psychological
  intervention is necessary
• EPI is one point on a continuum of psychological
  care. This spectrum ranges from pre-incident
  preparedness to post-incident psychotherapy, when
  needed
• Cooperation, communication, coordination and
  collaboration are essential to the delivery of EPI

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EPI is valued

• EPI refers to a body of psychological
  interventions designed to mitigate acute distress
  while not interfering with natural recovery
  processes
• Where there is a need for physical disaster
  response services, there is a potential need for
  psychological disaster services
• EPI is a valuable contribution along the
  continuum of disaster response services
• EPI is not psychotherapy, nor a substitute for
  psychotherapy

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EPI is a multi-component system

• EPI is a multi-component system designed to meet
  the needs of those impacted.
• Specific early psychological interventions should
  be included in any disaster response initiative.
  
• Interventions include, but are not limited to
• Pre-incident training
• Incident assessment and strategic planning
• Risk and crisis communication
• Acute psychological assessment and triage
• Crisis intervention with large groups
• Crisis intervention with small groups
• Crisis intervention with individuals,
  face-to-face and hotlines
• Crisis planning and intervention with communities
• Crisis planning and intervention with
  organizations
• Psychological first aid
• Facilitating access to appropriate levels of care
  when needed
• Assisting special and diverse populations
• Spiritual assessment and care
• Self care and family care including safety and
  security
• Post incident evaluation and training based on
  lessons learned

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Specialized Training in EPI is necessary

• Fundamental understanding of National Incident
  Management System (NIMS), Incident Command System
  (ICS) (reporting relationships how EPI fits
  within disaster response operations
  collaborative relationships accountability for
  deployment)
• Pre-incident training
• Incident assessment and strategic planning
• Risk and crisis communication
• Acute psychological assessment and triage
• Crisis intervention with large groups
• Crisis intervention with small groups
• Crisis intervention with individuals,
  face-to-face and hotlines
• Crisis planning and intervention with communities
• Crisis planning and intervention with
  organizations
• Psychological first aid
• Facilitating access to appropriate levels of care
  when needed
• Assisting special and diverse populations
• Spiritual assessment and care
• Self care and family care including safety and
  security
• Post incident evaluation and training based on
  lessons learned
• Commitment to ongoing continued education and
  training, team/organizational involvement

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Summary

• Early psychological intervention is one point on
  a continuum of psychological care.
• This spectrum ranges from pre-incident
  preparedness to post-incident psychotherapy, when
  needed.

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The Four Cs

• Cooperation, communication, coordination and
  collaboration are essential to the delivery of
  early psychological intervention. Consistent
  with the NVOAD values, organizations that provide
  EPI will demonstrate
• Cooperation that is, encouraging the formation
  and utilization of functional partnerships
• Communication that is, the regular sharing of
  information
• Coordination that is, maximize the resources and
  minimize the redundancy in an noncompetitive
  atmosphere
• Collaboration that is, working together to
  achieve the best outcome for those impacted by
  disasters

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Thank You

• Questions
• Discussion