Emotional Trauma Care in Houston
Sep. 7th, 2017 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the first example I've seen locally of emotional trauma care, rather than just emotional first aid. There's a Psychotrauma Unit out of Israel coming to help Houston in the wake of hurricane flooding. It's a volunteer service, but working at professional level: "The unit’s 200 or so members include medics, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers who are trained by some of Israel’s leading experts on the psychology of crises."
That's a useful distinction between emotional first aid, which most people can learn; and emotional trauma care, which requires more advanced training. The idea is to provide support that reduces the risk of permanent injury, teach coping skills to help people through a crisis, and let them know what symptoms mean trouble and it would be advisable to seek further help. I suspect that a good listener and some practical resources will knock down the rate of PTSD just because the keystone risk factor is feeling helpless; if you can stop that, it's like cooling a burn, it slows or halts the damage rate.
Tikkun olam, Israel, today you're doing it right.
That's a useful distinction between emotional first aid, which most people can learn; and emotional trauma care, which requires more advanced training. The idea is to provide support that reduces the risk of permanent injury, teach coping skills to help people through a crisis, and let them know what symptoms mean trouble and it would be advisable to seek further help. I suspect that a good listener and some practical resources will knock down the rate of PTSD just because the keystone risk factor is feeling helpless; if you can stop that, it's like cooling a burn, it slows or halts the damage rate.
Tikkun olam, Israel, today you're doing it right.
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Date: 2017-09-07 06:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-09-08 03:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-09-08 03:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-09-10 03:43 am (UTC)Well...
Date: 2017-09-10 04:31 am (UTC)* It shakes the foundation of physical safety. This can make it difficult or impossible to restore psychological safety and healthy function -- especially if people are forcibly trapped in "refugee" status for more than a few days.
* It hits a wide area at once, which means that many upset people heterodyne with each other and make it worse.
* And the same footprint means that most people's supporters are also victims and unable to help. This is why it's good to have some out-of-state support network.
For a comparison, however, consider a death in the family when it's a person important to the extended clan, such as a grandmother. The imprint is big enough to give you an idea of what it's like in a disaster. Also compare your experience with smaller disasters such as an ice storm, power outage lasting more than a day, blizzard, wind storm, etc. You've probably seen people really freak out, so just magnify that. Then think about how you could scale up your response to handle a bigger problem. It is better to do so when you are not the target, so you'll have a place to start if your town gets hit.