10 Features of a Mentally Healthy Response to Disaster

          I am currently doing some group work in my Psychological Suffering and Disorders class for the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities on their Disaster Mental Health website.  The following is a sample of some proposed content I have offered to my group as part of our presentation to the class and the maintainers of the website.  From the georgiadisaster.info main page; this content will be located under the Public -> General Public -> Preparedness and Planning section.

10 Features of a Mentally Healthy Response to Disaster:

The U.S Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) assembled a group of experts to study what helps people through disaster and they suggested, based on their studies, the following ten features. *List and descriptions have been elaborated on and obtained from this post in the SAMHSA newsletter.


1)  Person-Centered Approach - There are multiple pathways to recovery based on an individual's unique strengths as well as his or her needs, preferences, experiences, and cultural background.

          A person-centered approach to preparedness and planning means that the approach is individualized.  Each of us must prepare and plan for disasters in a way that "fits" with who we are and how we live.  For example, a disaster such as some hurricanes that involves relocation will be experienced differently for someone who has recently moved to a city compared to someone living there all of her life.  A person-centered approach takes into consideration one's strengths, experiences, and cultural background and adapts to individual preferences and needs.

2)  Self-Direction - Consumers determine their own path of recovery with their autonomy, independence, and control of resources.

          Although other people can influence and assist with our response to life events (such as disasters), each person's experience of a disaster is unique.  The availability, extent, and delivery of resources may vary greatly depending on the circumstances of a disaster.  Not all contributing circumstances can be controlled, however, individual responses can be.  Self-Direction means individual rationality.  This rationality involves making informed and un-coerced decisions.  Individuals recover and react differently to given circumstances.  A self-directed choosing of an individual pathway may ease the burden of the recovery process.

3)  Hope - Hope is the catalyst of the recovery process and provides the essential and motivating message of a positive future.  Peers, families, friends, providers, and other can help foster hope.

          Psychologists have found that hope, something that other traditions might refer to as a positive outlook or even faith, can help people prepare for and experience disasters in a mentally healthy fashion  having hope means keeping one's projected prospective of the future open to the potential for betterment and improvement of the current situation.

4)  Responsibility - Although resources including websites such as this one can help in preparation, ultimately disasters demand that we respond in a way that takes responsibility, that is ours.

          An individual's reaction to their circumstances and consumption of resources (such as assistance from government agencies or other people in the community) can be rationally individualized and accepted with responsibility to increase the need-based efficiency and benefits of those resources.  This website is designed to prepare foresight and preparedness for potential future disasters   However, it is the responsibility of the individual to carry out their plan and use the resources, skills, and tools available to them to the best of their ability.

5)  Empowerment - Consumers have the authority to participate in all decisions that will affect their lives, and they are educated and supported in this process.

          The essence of preparedness is to be empowered, to be able to not be merely a victim of disasters but a participant in their process.  Additional information about empowerment is located throughout our website.  Knowledge is empowering.  This website is designed to provide a great deal of information that can be generally applied to a variety of situations.  Your power, as a consumer of this information, comes in the form of your ability and willingness to share, use, and further research the information provided here.

6)  Respect -  Eliminating discrimination and stigma are crucial in achieving recovery.  Self-acceptance and regaining belief in oneself are particularly vital.

          People experiencing disasters are still first and foremost people.  A mentally healthy approach to disasters would respect and honor personal experience and meaning-making.  Disasters are life changing events and the journey can sometimes be lonely.  However, recovery after a disaster is best achieved by combining a respectful willingness to give and accept help from others as well as respect of one's own circumstances and avenues of change.

7)  Peer-Support - Mutual support plays a vital role in recovery.  Consumers encourage and engage others in recovery and provide each other with a sense of belonging.

          Although each of us experiences a disaster in ways that are unique to us and to our experience, and although we can count on governmental and other agencies to assist us through these experiences, reliance on those around us and similar to us is also an important feature of a mentally healthy response to disasters.

8)  Strengths-Based - Recovery focuses on valuing and building on the multiple capacities, resiliencies, talents, coping abilities, and inherent worth of individuals.  The process of recovery moves forward through interaction with others in supportive, trust-based relationships.

          Our approach to mental health in disaster is founded on the idea that people are fundamentally strong, and that rather than speaking to deficits or shortcomings, we build our response to disaster on these strengths.  Past events can be used as learning modules to adapt to present circumstances.  Not only can these modules be used as a model of what not to (in the case of unwanted results), but as a beacon of what has worked well and may be of benefit to continue doing.

9)  Non-Linear - Recovery is not a step-by-step process but one based on continual growth, occasional setbacks, and learning from experience.

          Although some elements of disasters and our responses to them are predictable in terms of progressing through phases to a defined outcome, a mentally healthy response to disaster takes its own journey, sometimes with twists and turns and according to its own timetable.  Responding to and recovering from disaster is a personal and somewhat unique experience.

10)  Holistic - Recovery encompasses an individual's whole life, including mind, body, spirit, and community.

          Recovery embraces all aspects of life, including housing  social networks, employment, education, mental health and health care treatment, and family supports.  This element of preparedness, response, and recovery emphasizes how disasters are part of a whole life and culture and time, and although having some special features, they are not separate from other human experiences.

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