Today’s CERT training concentrated upon the psychological environment created by a traumatic event. Here are some notes.

CERT members may experience disaster trauma because you have to address

• Your own personal losses
• Work in your neighborhood
• Assisting neighbors, friends, coworkers who’ve been injured.
• Not feeling safe and secure
• The vicarious trauma can occur when you identify too strongly with the survivors feelings. This is also known as compassion fatigue a secondary victimization. Taking on survivors feelings can affect your ability to perform your duties.

Possible psychological symptoms:

• Some of the types of disaster – related psychological responses that you may experience or observe and others are
• Irritability or anger
• Self-blame of blaming others
• Isolation and withdrawal
• Fear of reoccurrence
• Feeling stunned, none, overwhelmed
• Feeling helpless mood swings
• Sadness, depression, and grief
• Denial
• Concentration and memory problems
• Relationship conflicts – marital discord

Possible physical symptoms:

• Loss of appetite
• Headaches of chest pain
• Diarrhea, stomach pain, or nausea
• Hyperactivity
• Increase in alcohol or drug consumption
• Nightmares
• The ability to sleep, fatigue or low-energy

Team well – being

• The action you can take before, during and after the incident to help manage the emotional impact of the event. Knowing in advance what kind of responses you can get can help in managing the impact.
• Some actions of the CERT responders can be taken by themselves or by certain leaders to take during a response

Ways to reduce your own stress:

• You are the best one to know what can help you reduce stress. Consider these preventative steps in your everyday life.
• Get enough sleep.
• Exercise regularly.
• Eat a balanced diet.
• Balance work, play, and rest.
• Allow yourself to receive help as you get help; you should remember that your space identity is wider than that as a helper.
• Connect with others.
• Use spiritual resources.
• In additional to preventative steps you can also explain to your loved ones and friends how to support you. You can ask them to listen to when you want to talk. And remind them not to force you to talk if you don’t want to.

How team leaders reduce stress during the incident:

• Brief CERT personnel before the effort begins on what they can expect to see what they can expect in terms of emotional response in the survivors in themselves. Emphasize of the CERT is a team. Share in the workload and emotional load can help defuse pent-up emotions.
• Encourage rescues to rest and regroup selection of boy becoming overtired.
• Get rescuers to take breaks away from the incident area, to get relief from stresses of the effort.
• Encourage rescues to eat properly and maintain fluid intake throughout the operation. Encourage water or electrolyte – replacing fluids and to avoid drinks caffeine or refined sugar.
• Arrange for debriefing 1 to 3 days after the event in which workers describe what they encountered and express their feelings about it in a more in-depth way.
• Rotate teams for breaks or new duties. Encourage team members to talk to each other about their experience. This is very important for their psychological help.
• Phase out workers gradually. Move them from high to low stress areas of the incident. At the end of the day assignment to low stress responsibilities so they can decompress gradually. Conduct a brief discussion (diffusing) with rescue workers after their shift during which they can describe what they encountered and express their feelings about it

Have any additional suggestions? Please share them in the comment section of this blog.

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