Behavioral Health Response Strategies

The following are response strategies that focus on promoting optimal psychological well-being and functioning through both short- and long-term behavioral health interventions.

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Clinicians with Mental Health Experience

Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) is an empirically supported modular intervention that aims to help survivors gain skills to manage distress and cope with post-disaster distress and adversity. This empirically supported modular approach built on promoting resiliency. A 5-hour interactive course is available through the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

It is common for disaster-exposed youth to experience immediate and short-term distress. Some youth display posttraumatic stress symptoms, including re-experiencing the event, avoiding situations that remind them of the disaster, numbing, and activation. More specifically, symptoms that may be experienced include unwanted memories, nightmares/flashbacks, intense physiological symptoms, detachment from loved ones, and loss of interest in typically enjoyable activities, overwhelming anxiety or sadness, anger, aggression, and/or trouble sleeping or concentrating. Individual evidence-based intervention is recommended when posttraumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, depression, and/or sleep problems are ongoing.