Light Our Way - Disaster Emotional Care (Section 3)

As an accompaniment to this course, you may find the entire document 'Light Our Way - A Guide for Spiritual Care in Times of Disaster 2018' in the Documents above.

Section 3, a Quick Reference and Resources of this document can all be found in the Elements to the right.

SUMMARY OF SECTION 3

Spiritual care providers partner with emotional care providers in caring for communities in disaster. Spiritual and emotional care share some common elements but are distinct healing modalities. Spiritual care providers can be an important asset by referring individuals to receive care for their mental health needs.

Are you ready to learn about disaster emotional care?

DISASTER EMOTIONAL CARE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO DISASTER SPIRITUAL CARE

Spiritual care providers in disaster have many important partners whose work contributes tremendously to a community’s recovery. Mental health professionals and other providers of emotional care have an inestimable role in healing and wellness following disaster. Trauma and disaster can profoundly affect an entire community’s mental health.

Tension between providers of disaster emotional care and spiritual care can sometimes surface because of how similar the two modalities are, resulting in confusion over roles in shared settings which can interfere with the timely and efficient provision of services.

To clarify the distinction between disaster spiritual care (DSC) and disaster emotional care (DEC), it is helpful to understand their similarities and differences, which are summarized in the next 2 steps.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN DEC AND DSC

- Both provide emotional support and comfort using principles of Psychological First Aid (e.g., importance of meeting basic needs)

- Both refer to community resources for longer-term services

- Both are trained to deliver multi-cultural services

- Both work with individuals and families in crisis and grieving

- Both emphasize self-care, coping, and decision-making support

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEC AND DSC

- DEC primary purpose/intent is attending to emotional needs, concerns; DSC primary purpose/intent is attending to spiritual needs and concerns

- DEC primarily trained in psychopathology; DSC educated in pastoral care and applying theological context to life circumstances

- Different language of engagement with client: DEC focuses on coping and stress; DSC focuses on meaning and faith

- Different skill sets—DSC may participate in religious or spiritual rituals; DEC uses crisis intervention and coping skills training

- DEC identifies risk of long term psychological issues; DSC promotes individual’s ability to use their faith as a source of healing and strength


Fortunately, disaster spiritual care providers and disaster emotional care professionals are developing a greater respect for one another’s roles and contributions to the healing of a community following disaster. Each group is in a unique position to refer clients to the other’s care when conditions warrant. Through shared training and exercise, in the face of disaster, both DEC and DSC providers are equipped to work as a collaborating team within the command structure.

Spiritual care providers will want to develop an understanding and appreciation for the role of disaster emotional care. Below we will provide an introduction to the kinds of care mental health professionals provide in disaster and some signs and symptoms that spiritual care providers will want to be attentive to in order to make appropriate referrals for clients (and themselves!) to receive vital emotional care.

DISASTER EMOTIONAL CARE

There are numerous approaches and methods that mental health professionals apply when caring for a community affected by disaster.

National VOAD member agencies have a consensus on the value and place of a set of emotional care activities helpful across the disaster continuum.

These activities include:

• Preparedness activities
• Assessment and triage activities
• Psychosocial support activities
• Early psychological intervention activities
• Recovery activities

PREPAREDNESS ACTIVITIES

Many National VOAD organizations provide training for mental health professionals preparing them to work effectively in a disaster setting.

ASSESSMENT AND TRIAGE ACTIVITIES

Disaster emotional care providers are trained to identify persons most in need of immediate care, those who are likely to recover on their own with normal support from friends and family, and those who might require some additional support during the recovery process. Persons in need of immediate care typically are given emergency emotional support and stabilization, then referred to community behavioral health resources.

PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an approach for supporting disaster impacted persons by promoting safety, calm, connectedness, self-efficacy, empowerment and hope. PFA is appropriate for disaster survivors, responders, and the community as a whole, both during the response and recovery phases. Disaster emotional care providers also support coping, provide psychoeducation, help reduce stress, and promote resilience.

EARLY PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTION ACTIVITIES

Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a method of providing emotional care for those who are impacted by disasters, and is best delivered by trained helpers who can link to collaborative resources. PFA seeks to meet basic needs, facilitate connections, provide information, provide active listening, and help persons affected by trauma to feel safe. Other early intervention strategies that are useful for both disaster survivors and responders include crisis intervention, coping skills training, and stress management.

RECOVERY ACTIVITIES

Some people develop long term conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the trauma of a disaster. Other people may experience emotional and psychological issues, such as depression and anxiety that persist during the recovery phase. Disaster emotional care providers refer these individuals to behavioral health professionals in the community who can provide necessary and appropriate care. Disaster emotional care workers also provide psychoeducation and targeted interventions to help build resilience in individuals, families, and communities during the recovery phase.

DISASTER EMOTIONAL CARE IN ACTION

In all stages of disaster, disaster emotional care providers are active and can be called on for care. During response and recovery stages, many National VOAD organizations will sponsor and supply disaster emotional care personnel who will be present in numerous places such as community assistance centers, multi-agengy resource centers, restricted recovery sites and respite centers for recovery workers. If a particular disaster response doesn’t include pre-planned or sponsored disaster emotional care provision, disaster spiritual care providers will want to identify community mental health professionals to whom they can refer.

Spiritual care providers working in these contexts can be very helpful to disaster emotional care providers by encouraging disaster impacted persons and workers to access behavioral health services when needed. Especially among emergency personnel such as firefighters, police and emergency medical technicians (EMT’s) there can be a perceived stigma associated with receiving care from behavioral health professionals. Encouragement from a spiritual care provider can sometimes assist people to feel comfortable utilizing these important services.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS FOR A DEC REFERRAL

Spiritual care providers should be particularly attentive to specific signs and symptoms that may indicate that seeing a disaster emotional care provider could be helpful. The needs of individuals in distress are best served when spiritual care providers maintain an open attitude and take action to connect them with disaster emotional care services. For example, a spiritual care provider might say, “Thank you for sharing these feelings with me. I think that it could also be very helpful for you to spend some time talking with a disaster emotional care provider. I can help you get in touch with someone who specializes in helping people with these kinds of issues.”

Spiritual care providers should familiarize themselves with disaster
emotional care services available during the disaster, and if possible, make personal connections with disaster emotional care providers to build trust and comfort in making mutual referrals.

If clients exhibit any of the following behaviors, consider referring them to disaster emotional care providers:

• Flat, expressionless affect of face or voice
• Thinking or talking about hurting oneself or others
• Uncontrollable outbursts of emotion long after trauma
• Persistent nightmares long after trauma
• Problems with relationships and disruption of social support networks
• Articulating violent or self-destructive imagery

If you are a DSC provider, will you agree to consider referring a client experiencing the above symptoms to a DEC provider?

Please log your response below

DSC REFERRALS

The spiritual care provider should keep in mind that referring a client for mental health care is not a matter of competition. It is not an image of sending somebody up to the “big leagues” while the spiritual care provider is in the “little leagues.” It is a referral for a client to receive important specialist care from trained practitioners of a complementary healing modality. People receiving mental health therapy continue to need spiritual care, to attend to aspects of their lives relating to their faith, hope and connection to strengths that can sustain them during difficult times.

For this reason, disaster emotional care providers will want to consider contexts in which they might make a referral for a client under their care to receive spiritual care.

Some signs or themes that trigger a referral may include a client:

• Desiring to experience rituals and receive resources from a faith tradition
• Yearning for a reconciliation with previously held beliefs
• Asking questions about hope and transcendent power
• Feelings of guilt, doubt, unforgiveness, shame, trust, or values

If you are a DEC provider, will you agree to consider referring a client to a DSC?

Please log your response below

FINAL THOUGHTS

We have already explored how “telling the story” is such an important part of recovery from disaster. Therefore, comprehensive care for a community gathers as many people as possible to re-tell the story of disaster, response and recovery. Working together, spiritual care providers and disaster emotional care providers offer support to the whole person; body, mind and spirit. All three are intricately and mysteriously connected.

Do you feel like you understand the differences and similarities between Disaster Emotional Care and Disaster Spiritual Care?