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

~ George W. Doherty (Editor)
Key Phrases: comprehensive emergency management, corporate crisis management, health disaster plan, New York, Traumatic Stress, Service Member (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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: 11.5 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,568,812 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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 "http://ErnestDempsey.com" (Pakistan) - See all my reviews

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning from the past and planning for the future, March 20, 2008

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (3/08)

The 6th Annual Rocky Mountain Disaster Mental Health Conference was held in Cheyenne, Wyoming from November 8-10, 2007. The main theme was: "From Crisis to Recovery: Resilience and Strategic Planning for the Future." Presenters from the conference put their materials into articles which are in this book. This is an excellent resource for people who attended the conference because they can use this as a reference for the information presented.

The purpose of this conference is to present information, "to promote the development and application of practice, research and training in disaster mental health, critical incident stress management, traumatology, and other emergency response interventions and to promote community awareness, resilience and recovery." This information is needed by people who deal with critical incident stress management, behavioral health professionals, first responders and others who might be dealing with crisis situations.

I did not attend this conference; however, I found the information presented to be fascinating. Several important topics were discussed, in areas of critical importance to what is happening in our world today. It is imperative that people who are involved in crisis situations read this material. It is all well written and presented in a way that is easily understood and very interesting.

Some of the topics covered traumatic stress in the workplace with issues like police suicide. Others involved emergency preparedness. It is so important that people who deal with emergency and disaster situations are appropriately trained and have resources to handle the stressors of dealing with these situations. Many times, their lives have been impacted in a way in which they are unable to handle the aftermath of having dealt with horrific situations, such as having to deal with an airplane crashing. There are also discussions about the importance of having disaster readiness plans in places such as tourist vacation spots where natural disasters or terroristic acts can occur. In addition to needing to be trained in advance about how to handle these events, people also need to have an understanding of the traditions of the cultures that they might be helping.

"Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference" is a must have for first responders and mental health professionals. Addressing the needs of people who work in these fields is critical. The better trained they are to be emotionally equipped for disasters, the better they can help others. I think that the 120 pages of information covered in this book will be some of the most important information needed by people in this field today.