Disaster Stress: Resistance & Resilience audio stream (Play button)

Target Audience
Florida Department of Health employees and other front-line professionals in public health, health care, mental health, and first responder organizations (e.g., law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services).

Program Introduction
All people who experience a disaster are affected by it in some way - from those survivors most directly exposed to the disaster, to those disaster workers or responders who are called upon to respond to it.

Disaster workers are at an increased risk for disaster-related stress. Disaster worker stress is commonly referred to as critical incident stress. Critical incident stress is a consequence of any situation that causes emergency personnel, disaster relief workers, and other individuals exposed to life-threatening and sometimes horrific situations to experience emotional reactions that could interfere with their ability to function. Critical incident stress may result from a variety of factors and determinants, such as disaster workers being overly dedicated to their jobs, and their repeated exposure to difficult, horrific, and traumatic situations.

In addition to an increased exposure to traumatic stressors, disaster workers risk overtaxing themselves to meet the needs of disaster survivors. Often, the consequences of this overwork are revealed in symptoms that decreases one’s personal effectiveness and capability. Common symptoms include: worker burnout, exhaustion, irritability, grief, depression, anger, numbness, isolation, a sense of being alone, and extreme fatigue.

It is recommended that disaster workers participate in disaster behavioral health training or psycho-education, responder resiliency training, and other stress management activities that are designed to prevent and reduce the effects of critical incident stress. Such activities can help disaster workers develop resistance to the occupational stressors associated with disaster response work and foster resiliency.

Program Aim
To provide public health workers and other professionals on the front lines of terrorism and disaster response with the necessary awareness, knowledge, and skills to:

• Effectively recognize common reactions and responses to disasters and critical incident stress.
• Promote behavioral health and wellness through strategies and techniques for building resistance and resilience to the negative effects of critical incident stress exposure.

Program Goal
The program was developed to satisfy the recommendations of Florida’s Disaster Behavioral Health All-Hazards Statewide Plan. The goal is to help Florida Department of Health staff and their community partners prevent and mitigate the adverse effects of critical incident stress associated with disaster response work and to promote staff behavioral wellness.

Program Outcomes

• To create an awareness of disaster-related stress and critical incident stress.
• To create an awareness of the common reactions and responses to disasters and critical incident stress.
• To develop knowledge of the strategies and techniques for building resistance and resilience to the negative effects of critical incident stress exposure.

Program Objectives

• Define stress.
• Distinguish among the types of disaster-related stress.
• Describe the nature of stress and its potential adverse effects on behavioral health.
• Describe ways to reduce and manage critical incident stress and general life stress (in order to mitigate the potential for adverse behavioral health outcomes related to the repeated exposure to disaster stress resultant from disaster response work).

Related Distance Learning Training Programs

• Understanding Compassion Fatigue – Details
• Critical Incident Stress Management and Public Health Emergency Readiness and Response – Details

Related On-Site Training Programs

• Disaster Behavioral Health First Aid Specialist Training (BFAST) – Details
• Disaster Behavioral Health First Aid Specialist Training for Responders (RFAST) – Details

Related Print Resources – Click here

Program Developers and Sponsors
This program was developed by the Florida Center for Public Health Preparedness (FCPHP) at the University of South Florida College of Public Health. The development and delivery of this program are supported by funding from a cooperative agreement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of Schools of Public Health.
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Disaster Stress: Resistance & Resilience audio stream (Play button)

• 2008-2009 Training Calendar now in development. Want a course to come to your region? Contact us at fcphpinfo@health.usf.edu.

• Have a safe summer!