From Crisis To Recovery: Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference [Paperback]

George W. Doherty (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2008

Events around the world continue to present challenges for first responders and mental health professionals. Natural and man-made disasters continue. Evidence mounts concerning potential events such as global warming and the effects this may have worldwide. Avian Flu remains a concern as do forms of biological terrorism and natural hazards such as tsunamis, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. The 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka and Thailand continues to have a significant impact on that area of the world. Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to impact those countries, the Middle East and the United States. Preparing our communities and families not only for deployments and support of those deployed and their families, but also for the aftermath and return of our military and National Guard personnel into our communities is important for all.

What can we expect from all of these? How do communities and first responders handle these? What role does mental health play? How do first responders and mental health professionals plan together for responding to future events and learning from past ones. Using a strategic planning approach, how do we identity potential threats and identify target populations and groups? What resources are available for which identified threats? How do we do such planning, how often, and how do we exercise such plans prior to events? What can we learn from such events and how do we incorporate what we learn into future planning?

It is crucial that response, resilience, recovery and follow-up be included in our planning. Additional variables important in responding include cultural knowledge and sensitivity. We need to prepare to respond appropriately within a culture not our own, whether locally, nationally, or internationally.

November 8-10, 2007, the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute held their Annual Disaster Mental Health Conference in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The theme of this conference was: From Crisis To Recovery: Resilience and Strategic Planning for the Future.

RM DMH Institute Press
PO Box 786
Laramie, WY 82073-0786
Phone: [phone]
www.rmrinstitute.org

"Learning from the past and planning for the future"

An Imprint of Loving Healing Press www.LHPress.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Rocky Mountain DMH Institute Press (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932690565
• ISBN-13: 978-1932690569
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 11.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,085,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

George Doherty resides in Laramie, WY where he founded the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute, Inc. He is currently employed as the President/CEO of this organization and also serves as Clinical Coordinator of the Snowy Range Critical Incident Stress Management Team.

He has been involved with disaster relief since 1995, serving as a Disaster Mental Health Specialist with such incidents as the UP train wreck in Laramie, Hurricane Fran in North Carolina, the Cincinnati floods in Falmouth, KY and Tropical Storm Allison in Southeast Texas. He served as Supervisor for Disaster Mental Health for flash floods in Ft. Collins, and spent a month as the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Coordinator for western Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane George.

He has also published numerous articles in disaster mental health and traumatic stress publications and served as Guest Editor for 2 Special Editions of the journal Traumatology (1999 & 2004).

He served as an officer in the US Air Force and was an OTS instructor, squadron commander and other positions. Additionally, he served 11 years involved in Air Search & Rescue with Civil Air Patrol in WY as Squadron Commander, Deputy Wing Commander, Air Operations Officer, and Master Observer. Certified Instructor with the Wyoming Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST).

He has extensive experience conducting CISM debriefings with first responders and others and is a member of a national crisis care network, providing assistance to companies and other organizations following critical incidents involving sudden deaths and similar traumatic events.

He is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice and has been an adjunct instructor for a number of colleges, including Northern Nevada Community College and the University of Wyoming. Organizational memberships include the American Counseling Association, Voting Associate Member of the American Psychological Association, American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress (AETS), Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists (ATSS), Traumatic Incident Reduction Association (TIRA), Certificate of Specialized Training in the field of Mass Disaster and Terrorism, Wyoming Department of Health Hospital Emergency Preparedness Advisory Committee; Research Advisor and Research Fellow: American Biographical Institute (ABI), Editorial Advisory Board Member and Book Reviewer: PsyCritiques (APA Journal), Life Member of the Air Force Association, and Life Member of the Military Officers Association of America, Life Member: Pennsylvania State University Alumni Association, Alumni Admissions Volunteer - Pennsylvania State University.

Publications include: Crisis Intervention Training for Disaster Workers: An Introduction.; Editor and contributor for the Proceedings of Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conferences (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008). Served as Guest Editor for Special issues of the journal Traumatology on Disaster Mental Health (1999) and Crises in Rural America (2004); Cross-cultural Counseling in Disaster Settings. - Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies (1999). Published reviews include: Understanding Oslo in Troubled Times; Responders to September 11, 2001: Counseling: Innovative Responses to 9/11 Firefighters, Families, and Communities; Genocide: A Human Condition?; Stress Management, Wellness and Organizational Health; Leadership Competency and Conflict; Leadership: Lessons from the Ancient World - all in PsyCritiques. Conference Director for annual Rocky Mountain Disaster Mental Health Conferences 1999 -present.

Additional past positions include: Masters Level Psychologist - Rural Clinics (State of Nevada), 1980 - 1986; Veterans Counselor (VA Contract) - 1980-1986, NV; Counselor - pre-delinquent children and families - CORA Services (Philadelphia, PA).1972-1975; Program Coordinator - Community Action Programs (EOAC, Office of Economic Opportunity - Waco/McLennan County, TX) 1968-1971.

Current Courses/Workshops he teaches include:

CRISIS INTERVENTION IN DISASTERS: TRAINING FOR WORKERS - AN INTRODUCTION - 12 CEU
CISM: INDIVIDUAL CRISIS INTERVENTION AND PEER SUPPORT CISM: GROUP CRISIS INTERVENTION
CISM: ADVANCED GROUP CRISIS INTERVENTION
CISM: Strategic Response to Crisis (Capstone Course)
* NEW: RETURN TO EQUILIBRIUM: Disaster Mental Health- 4 CEU
* NEW: RETURN TO EQUILIBRIUM: Returning Military And Families - 8 CEU
* From Crisis to Recovery:Strategic Planning for Response, Resilience and Recovery - 12 CEU

Email: [e-mail]
Mailing Address: Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute
Box 786
Laramie, WY 82073-0786

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring the hazardous effects of disasters on human behavior and on family and society at large, July 31, 2009

By 

Ernest Dempsey "ED" (Pakistan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Crisis To Recovery: Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference (Paperback)

George W. Doherty, an LPC in Wyoming and the president of the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute, has put together the most important papers on managing the impact of disasters on the mental health and behavior of people, especially those who provide emergency services during and shortly after disasters. Published by the Rocky Mountain DMH Institute Press (March, 2008), this edition serves the important purpose of exploring the hazardous effects of disasters on human behavior and on family and society at large.

The papers printed in George Doherty's book deal with the main issue of disaster impact on mental/behavioral health from different angles and with respect to different groups of population. First responders, emergency workers, and soldiers are always at a higher risk of developing mental/behavioral abnormalities that would endanger their individual and family life. But many other categories of people are at a higher risk of suffering from disasters, tourists, for example, who need special measures of security on account of both natural hazards and terrorist traumas. Then there are the senior citizens for whom old age, illness, abusive treatment, and neglect form a constant trauma without any manifest disastrous situation to be noted by mental health institutes. Managing the stress of all these people is inevitable for the definition of a healthy society.

The target audience of George Doherty's publication is broad: all mental health professionals, disaster management officers, and local policy makers who have anything to do with a better quality of life for the citizens. Some papers would be of great interest to all readers like Jamie Egolf's Flyboy's Daughter and John G. Jones' The Forgotten Trauma Victims: America's Elderly. Generally, any educated person caring about an improved quality of life can benefit from this publication of the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic look at a sometimes overlooked aspect of emergency management, May 10, 2010

By 

Vicki Landes - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Crisis To Recovery: Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference (Paperback)

While natural and man-made disasters continue to garner attention from international onlookers, the emergency and disaster management community continues to look for ways to better prepare and respond to these scenarios. The United States' federally-mandated four-pronged approach - prevent, prepare, respond, and recover - allows for a comprehensive methodology when considering what actions should be taken before, during, and after a given event. Yet much of what is categorized as `emergency management' by the general public is physical - stocking supplies, having adequate shelter, and clean-up, for example. A truly all-encompassing plan includes the psychological and sociological implications of disasters. Editor George W. Doherty presents the "Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Regional Disaster Mental Health Conference" to address these important aspects of emergency and disaster management.

"Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference" contains the presented material from the November 2007 conference held in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In keeping with its theme `From Crisis to Recovery: Resilience and Strategic Planning for the Future', subjects such as police suicides and traumatic stress in the workplace, psychological first aid for both responders and the communities they assist, ethical considerations, strategic planning and state-level implementation of behavioral health response, the importance of non-verbal communication and multicultural work, and special population needs are discussed throughout the text. As a graduate student in emergency and disaster management, I found the subject matter to be relevant, interesting, and applicable to the many facets of the field.

While the text reflects no discernible spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors, I found the format to be `uncomfortable'. The book's size is larger than I would consider normal or typical and the font size is enormous. It seems as though most books, especially those utilized by the emergency management community, are smaller and easy to throw in a bag to read on the go. Although lightweight and in paperback format, my copy of the book quickly began showing wear and tear because of its cumbersome size.

Editor George W. Doherty's "Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference" is a fantastic resource for behavioral health related subjects in the emergency and disaster management field. A must have for any responder's library!