During a Crisis
Natural disasters such as avalanches, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons, tsunamis, volcanoes, and wildfires have impacted various parts of the world throughout history. One of the most powerful natural disasters to impact the United States was Hurricane Katrina. Because of the scope of the disaster, every aspect of daily life along the northern Gulf Coast was affected. Thousands of lives were lost along with thousands of homes, cities’ infrastructures, schools, and jobs. Special mental health needs were seen in the region well after the initial disaster, and these issues typically had related physical manifestations. A region experiencing a disaster of this magnitude will be in the process of recovery for many years.
Researchers and crisis responding organizations learned a great deal about disaster preparation from mistakes made during and after Hurricane Katrina. For example, Mississippi developed a four-month planning list of recommendations involving over 500 stakeholders; you might find this document useful as you develop your own plan for disaster response.
To prepare for this Discussion:
- Review the article, “Assessment for Crisis Intervention.” Consider how the triage assessment system (TAS) offers a framework within which clinicians may assess the severity of crisis reactions.
- Review Chapter 2 in your course text, Crisis Intervention Strategies, and think about the diversity of the population affected by natural disasters in general and Hurricane Katrina specifically.
- Review Chapter 17 in your course text, Crisis Intervention Strategies, focusing on ecosystems.
- Review the article, “Crisis in Context Theory: An Ecological Model,” and think about how the impact of crisis on individuals can be analyzed from an ecological perspective.
- Review Chapter 1 in your course text, Crisis Management in the New Strategy Landscape, focusing on pp. 1–13. Then review Chapters 7, 8, and the Appendix, and think about elements involved in taking action during a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina.
- Review the assigned pages from the article, “After Katrina: Building Back Better Than Ever,” and think about strengths and limitations in the human services and NGO sections of the report.
- Then consider what you think was left out of the plan and how you might correct the problem.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post by Day 4, using Hurricane Katrina as your natural disaster example, a description of at least one strength and one limitation of the crisis plan developed by the state of Mississippi. Explain what you would do to improve the limitation you described. Be specific.
Note: Please include the strength and limitation you chose in the first line of your post. You will be asked to respond to a colleague who chose a different strength or limitation than you did.
- Article: Myer, R. A., & Conte, C. (2006). Assessment for crisis intervention. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(8), 959-970.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. - Article: Myer, R. A., & Moore, H. B., (2006). Crisis in context theory: An ecological model. Journal of Counseling & Development, 84(2), 139-147.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. - Article: North, C. S., & Hong, B. A. (2000). Project CREST: A new model for mental health intervention after a community disaster. American Journal of Public Health, 90(7), 1057-1058.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. - Article: Shah, A. (2005). Hurricane Katrina. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/564/hurricane-katrina
- Article: Thomas, J. C., & Lietner, L. M. (2005). Styles of suicide intervention: Professionals’ responses and clients’ preferences. Humanistic Psychologist, 33(2), 145-165.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.