Five years ago, Matthew Carlson responded to the call of a house fire. It was a relatively routine part of his job. A certified firefighter and medical first responder, Carlson was no stranger to trauma, but the tragedy he witnessed that day would stand out from all the others. As
Tag: Trauma and Disaster
Trauma and Disaster
When running into burning buildings is part of your job description, it’s understandable that your profession might have a substantial impact on your emotional and mental well-being. But for reasons Jeff Dill can’t explain, inadequate focus has been placed on the mental health care of professional and volunteer firefighters. “In
Counselors working in an emergency or disaster setting must be aware of the implications of a shelter-in-place order to effectively assist individuals, families, emergency personnel, and communities.
Following the tragic mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, policymakers at the national and state levels are considering policies both to restrict access to guns and to increase access to mental health and student support services. Most notably, President Obama released a broad set of proposals in mid-January that included
Your first client of the day recently survived a Category 4 hurricane, while your next client reports that she survived a mass school shooting several years ago. Both clients have experienced trauma in the form of a collective community disaster. Nevertheless, the causes, symptoms, courses of treatment and counseling interventions
When historic “superstorm” Hurricane Sandy tore through the East Coast this past October, more than 120 lives were lost and countless others were changed forever, as storm victims were forced to rebuild homes, businesses and lives in the aftermath. Two counseling students at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.,
Tony Colombrito has been a trained American Red Cross disaster mental health volunteer for the past two years, but it wasn’t until the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that he finally deployed. He spent nearly a week with residents of the town and
ACA member Jane Webber was interviewed Tuesday on NPR‘s Morning Edition regarding the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. Webber is an associate professor in the counseling program at New Jersey City University, former president of the New Jersey Counseling Association and current member of the ACA Crisis Response Planning Task
When the lives of six educators and 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 were cut short in a mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., school Dec. 14, the entire country found itself reeling. The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School is the second deadliest school shooting in
From now through Dec. 21, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is seeking public input on its concept paper, SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Trauma and Principles and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. SAMHSA has developed the following working definition of individual trauma: Individual trauma results from an