Lay Counselling: A Trainer's Manual

Social and humanitarian organisations provide support to people affected by crisis events all across the globe every day. They respond to human suffering in many different ways, assisting people affected by disasters or other critical events, people suffering from loss or serious illnesses, and people living in isolation or being stigmatised.

Lay counselling - psychosocial support provided by staff or volunteers who do not have a mental health background or formal degree in counselling

Psychosocial care to affected citizens and communities in case of CBRN incidents: A systematic review

Disasters are associated with a substantial psychosocial burden for affected individuals (including first responders) and communities. Knowledge about how to address these risks and problems is valuable for societies worldwide. Decades of research into post-disaster psychosocial care has resulted in various recommendations and general guidelines. However, as CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) events form a distinctive theme in emergency planning and disaster preparedness, it is important to systematically explore their implications for psychosocial care.

Towards Resilient Organisation of Recovery and Care after Disaster

It is sometimes said that ‘water comes in three kinds: too little (drought), too much (floods) or too dirty (polluted)’. Floods are the most widespread disaster on land and can be generated by excessive precipitation coupled with saturation of the ground, very rapid rainfall which generates flash floods, rapid snowmelt, storm surges, tsunamis, the breaching of volcanic crater lakes or anthropogenic causes such as dam bursts. The devastating power of water necessitates precautionary and protective measures.

WHO's response to the lack of available mental health services in low- and middle-income countries: mhGAP

The website of the World Health Organization
(WHO) on the WHO Mental Health Gap Action
Programme (mhGAP) opens by stating
that “mental, neurological, and substance use
disorders are common in all regions of the
world, affecting every community and age group across
all income countries. While 14% of the global burden
of disease is attributed to these disorders, most of the
people affected - 75% in many low-income countries -
do not have access to the treatment they need”.1

The Development of a Three Part Model of Psychological Resilience

Psychological resilience has been defined as the ability of an individual to recover from a traumatic event or to remain psychologically robust when faced with an adverse event. This study investigated a sample of 176 police officers who were surveyed at commencement of their training in 1998/1999 (Time 1), 12 months later (Time 2), and at the end of 2009 (Time 3).

Positive Psychological Factors are Associated with Lower PTSD Symptoms among Police Officers: Post Hurricane Katrina

Following Hurricane Katrina, police officers in the New Orleans geographic area faced a number of challenges. This cross-sectional study examined the association between resilience, satisfaction with life, gratitude, posttraumatic growth, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in 84 male and 30 female police officers from Louisiana. Protective factors were measured using the Connor–Davidson Resilience scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Gratitude Questionnaire, and the Posttraumatic Growth inventory.

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