MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT
September 15, 2000
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"The minute you start talking about what you're going
to do if you lose, you have lost." - George P. Shultz
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Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program
http://www.mhsip.org
This site explains how and what data are collected on
mental health services, where to find such data, how
to understand and report what's found and how to use
data in mental health decision-making. The site also
describes efforts of the Mental Health Statistics
Improvement Program Policy Group to develop standards
for mental health data. The Federal Center for Mental
Health Services supports the site.
* * * * *
PsychWatch.Com
http://www.psychwatch.com
This information network for psychology and psychiatry
orofessionals offers news articles on wide-ranging
aspects of mental health, from research and treatment
developments to policy and public perceptions to
children's and forensic issues. The site also offers
job listings, a selected mental health "Link of the Day"
and a free weekly email newsletter on research and
events in the mental health field.
* * * * *
October 16-18
"Screening and management for Phenylketonuria"
Bethesda, MD Contact:
Information line, (301)592-3320, email: pku@prospectas-soc.com
Web site: http://consensus.nih.gov
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RESILIENCE AND VULNERABILITY
IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
Part I
Resilience can be taken to to the capacity of a group or
organization to withstand loss or damage or to recover
from the impact of an emergency or disaster. Vulnerability
is a broad measure of the susceptibility to suffer loss
or damage.
The higher the resilience, the less likely damage may be,
and the faster and more effective recovery is likely to
be. Conversely, the higher vulnerability is, the more
exposed to loss and damage is the household, community
or organization.
A resilience and vulnerability profile is an integral
element of effective planning in the management of
consequences to a community in an emergency or disaster.
With such a profile, it is possible to:
* identify the strengths of particular areas, communities
or groups in terms of such things as resources, skills,
networks and community agencies. These strengths and
local capabilities may be used, and be further developed,
to minimize the negative consequences of an emergency
or disaster through being used to support prevention
activities or by supporting recovery activities.
* identify vulnerabilities of particular areas, communities
or groups so that these can be managed in terms of
prevention and preparedness activities, response
activities and recovery programs. By identifying the
risks and vulnerabilities prior to events, it will give
local managers the opportunity to plan to avoid or to
minimize the negative consequences of emergencies and
disasters.
Resilience and vulnerability assessment is but one aspect
of community profiling and local emergency management
planning.
In general, the following suggested guidelines could be
useful for local community or governmental agencies:
1. ensure that in an emergency management context that
they can identify individuals, families and groups
who may be at greatest risk or most threatened by
hazards.
2. ensure that needs which may arise after emergencies
can be planned for, either in terms of prevention,
in terms of priority attention in life threatening
situations or in terms of assistance to support
recovery from an emergency or disaster.
3. identify local and community strengths - these may
include resources, skills, information and networks
which can be used to develop and sustain resilience.
4. ensure that in the context of wide area and other
types of emergencies and disasters, local government
and agencies can work to ensure that communities and
individuals have access to information which will
assist their levels of resilience should the physical,
social and commercial infrastructure and arrangements
be temporarily disrupted.
5. support municipal emergency management processes and
provide support and advice for municipalities in
emergency management planning.
Resilience and vulnerability assessment is a process
that is a necessary component of effective emergency
management planning.
However, it is unlikely that any assessment, or community
audit, will capture every potential need or identify
every person who, in some circumstance, may be exposed
to a risk or to the possibility of some loss.
This suggests that following an emergency or disaster it
will be necessary to scan the affected area, through
information campaigns, outreach programs, letter box drops,
and other methods, to identify people who require
assistance.
Any resilience and vulnerability analysis needs to be
conducted with sensitivity and proper regard for people's
privacy. This includes their right not to provide
information. Additionally, due regard must be paid to
the legal and other requirements of maintaining appropriate
standards of confidentiality when dealing with information
from the public.
This information can be used as guidelines to assist
planning by community members, emergency managers, etc.
engaged in emergency prevention or response or recovery
activities. It can be used by emergency managers from
any level of community or organizational level as well.
Conducting a resilience and vulnerability analysis is
not an end in itself. The purpose behind such activity
is to highlight issues, needs and concerns and to work
to effect a change - to improve resilience and/or to
reduce vulnerability.
Issues
In terms of individual, group and community issues which
support resilience and reduce vulnerability, there are
some relevant broad principles to consider:
* We are aware from the experience of many events that
the affected community(s) will expect to contribute
to their own recovery. If denied an opportunity, they
may establish their own structures and processes to
achieve that end. It is paramount, therefore, to
support community involvement. Successful management
of the consequences is not possible without community
commitment and involvement.
* It is useful to set out community issues in these terms
because it places them in a management and operational
framework. Issues of resilience, vulnerability and
need are expressed in terms in which they can be
operationalized and dealt with in a practical way.
* These issues are a broad characterization of the types
of assistance and support that individuals and groups
may require after a significant emergency or disaster.
They are a way of thinking about service provision in
management and operational terms rather than simply in
terms of the particular assistance measure.
Information
* Information and advice about assistance measures and
how to access them, including eligibility conditions
and application procedures.
* The normal biopsychosocial reactions which can be
expected and how they can deal and cope with these
reactions in themselves, members of their family and
their community.
* How to make sense of the event in terms of its cause
and fitting it into their "view" of the world.
Resources
* Financial assistance where eligible to help restore
losses. This may include, where appropriate, grants,
loans, and insurance.
* Physical goods such as temporary accommodation,
essential household items, temporary public transport, tools, etc.
Management Capacity
* Time and opportunity e.g. to undertake recovery
activities.
* Physical capacity e.g. which may include the
support of other people, machinery, or other support
where there is a particular need.
* Access to services e.g. through establishing
support systems, locating service centers close to
affected areas or access in terms of translator,
interpreter, or other language and media services.
* Expertise e.g. access to specialist services
such as tradesmen, financial counselors, and other
professional services.
Support
* Personal support e.g. outreach services, personal
advisors and counselors, specialist support services,
advocates and gatekeepers.
* Community support e.g. community development
officers, etc.
Involvement
* Consultation in developing and implementing assistance
and recovery programs.
* Encouragement in making a contribution to policy and
program development.
* Engagement in monitoring and auditing the progress of
recovery.
Vulnerable Groups
Below is a list of groups of people who may have special
needs following an event. It is not an exhaustive list.
However, these are groups traditionally accepted as
being vulnerable. It is important to understand that the
aged, for example, are not vulnerable because they are
aged. They may be vulnerable because they may have
reduced mobility or be frail - impediments that some
young people share.
These vulnerabilities may be countered in part by strengths
and other capabilities. For example, the aged may have
greater life experience to draw from, they may have a
wide network of family and friends, or they may have a
personal strength drawn from many years of battling
through life.
These groups are generalizations. They are broad groupings
of possible needs. More importantly, however, they are
an indication that there may be a potential need or
vulnerability which needs to be addressed in emergency
management planning.
The listing below is directed at individuals or small
groups. There may be larger socioeconomic categories
or groups whose potential or actual strengths and
weaknesses should be assessed. Farmers and ranchers,
small businesses, local groups or associations may all
have special and significant needs that separate them
in some clear way from other members of their community.
Communities and agencies may be vulnerable to loss and
damage from emergencies or disasters. A similar process
of assessing elements of vulnerability and resilience and evaluating capability can be undertaken for communities and agencies
as is undertaken for assessing the vulnerability and
resilience of individuals, families, households, and
groups.
It is important to emphasize in the vulnerability assessment
that vulnerabilities and needs may change over time.
Needs may be significantly less in terms of numbers of
people and the urgency of the need after a few hours
than after days or weeks. For example, the loss of a
water supply may be trivial for an hour or two, but for
much longer than that it has the potential to affect
the whole population in a critical way.
Time of year may also be an important factor in assessing
vulnerability and, hence, potential. Loss of heating in
summer is less significant than it is in winter. Likewise,
loss of refrigeration in winter may be less critical than
in summer.
VULNERABLE GROUPS
1. Aged (particularly the frail)
* In terms of mobility and physical capacity.
2. Very young
* In terms of managing their own lives and recovery
and in terms of understanding the event.
3. Disabled (mental and physical)
* In terms of managing their own recovery and in
getting access to information and resources.
4. Poor people with limited resources to meet essential
needs
* In terms of having the financial and physical
resources to achieve recovery or to protect
themselves against loss through, for example,
insurance.
5. Non-English Speakers
* In terms of understanding the potential risks and
in gaining access to information.
6. Socially isolated
* In terms of having family or friends that can
provide personal and physical support.
7. Physically isolated
* In terms of having easy, cheap and fast access to
resources or in terms of being able to call upon
resistance from other members of the community or
from agencies.
8. Seriously ill
* In terms of already being in need and having a
very low capacity to carry out protective or
recovery activity.
9. People dependent on technology based life support
systems.
* In terms of being dependent on systems over which
they have no control.
10. Large families
* In terms of complex family needs and dynamics and
increased costs for prevention and recovery.
11. Single parent families
* In terms of having to manage a range of demands
with limited support.
12. Workers at risk from machinery/equipment failure
* In terms of potential severity of injury.
13. People with limited coping capacity.
* In terms of low or reduced capacity to manage life
events.
14. People with inadequate accommodation
* In terms of being already in difficult circumstances
and with existing high levels of need and support.
15. Those on holiday and traveling (particularly campers
and motor home travelers).
* In terms of being absent from their own communities
and resources.
16. Tourists from overseas
* In terms of being in an unfamiliar environment
with little knowledge of how to access resources and
support.
17. People with marginal coping capacity
* People with limited personal capacity to deal with
stress and disruption, with limited economic
resources or who have previously experienced
significant stress, trauma, or loss in their lives
may be tipped over the margins of successful life
management or day to day coping by loss, damage
or threat to life, safety, property or income
caused by an emergency or disaster.
18. People affected by an emergency
* In terms of needs (medical, psychological, material,
etc.) generated by the event.
Once the vulnerability assessment has been undertaken,
the results will identify special needs which can be
directly addressed as part of the local emergency
management process. The results of the assessment should
directly inform the process of planning, prevention and
preparedness and may be made available to individuals,
groups, communities and agencies to assist them with
their local activity.
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To search for further information through books, go to
the following and try these descriptors in the search
engine: disaster and vulnerability, disaster and resilience,
disaster management, disaster response resources,
disasters and public, disaster and finance, disasters
and community, disasters and prevention, disasters and
preparation, disasters and mitigation, etc.
https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/searchbooks.html
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Contact your local Mental Health Center or
check the yellow pages for counselors, psychologists,
therapists, and other Mental health Professionals in
your area for further information.
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