Community-Based Psychological First Aid

Community-Based Psychological First Aid: A Practical Guide to Helping Individuals and Communities during Difficult Times presents a practical method for helping those in need in difficult times. No advanced training in psychology is needed to use it. Injuries from disasters, terrorist events, and civil unrest are not just physical. These events also cause psychological trauma that can do lasting damage. Psychological First Aid (PFA) draws on human resilience and aims to reduce stress systems and help those affected recover. It is not professional psychotherapy, and those providing this kind of aid do not need a degree to help. Gerard Jacobs has developed this community-based method of delivering PFA over 20 years and has taught it in over 30 countries. Along with the easy-to-follow method, Jacobs includes examples of how this works in action in different situations, and presents scenarios to practice. Unique in its approach of community engagement to train community members to help each other, this guide is an excellent resource for local emergency managers to engage in whole community emergency management. Presents a proven method for helping to alleviate the mental health effects of disasters, terrorist attacks, civil unrest, and other community stressors Offers a community-based model developed and taught by an international expert for over 20 years, requiring no advanced training or education in psychology to use Provides techniques that are adaptable to individual communities or cultures Outlines practices for self-care while helping others to prevent burnout Includes case studies, scenarios, and key terms to help facilitate community training.

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Content -- About the Author -- Acknowledgments -- 1 -- What is community-based psychological first aid? -- Introduction -- It Is Not Always Obvious -- Some Cautionary Notes -- PFA in a Community Context -- 2 -- On being a helper and providing CBPFA -- The Art of Helping -- Characteristics of Effective Helpers -- Accepting Yourself in the Role of a Helper -- Rudeness and Rejection -- Concern That Your Own Skills as a Helper May Not Be Adequate -- Fear of Being Intrusive -- Fear of Learning Embarrassing Details -- Fear of Personal Danger -- How to Begin -- Reference -- 3 -- Individual differences in responses to stress -- A Model of Individual Reactions to Stress -- Two Examples to Illustrate the Model -- Each Person's Response is Unique -- How Someone Can be Helped to Reduce Their Stress Reactions -- Reference -- 4 -- Traumatic stress -- Emotional Reactions -- Physical Reactions -- Behavioral Reactions -- Cognitive Reactions -- Individual Differences in Traumatic Stress Reactions -- When to Seek Professional Help -- 5 -- The stress of disasters -- What Makes One Disaster More Stressful Than Another? -- Characteristics …