Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
unwarranted fears or other adverse reactions in
directly and indirectly affected communities (e.g.,
a sense of helplessness and vulnerability, xeno-
phobia, unfounded fear and panic).
immigrant communities with pervasive trauma
histories). This network of 250 prevention special-
ists was involved in the development of a web-
accessible Prevention Toolkit that was adapted
by CTRP faculty and staff from evidence-based
protocols from the disaster response fields. CPCs
assist community mental health and substance
abuse agencies in expanding their “target” groups
of patients to include people whose behavioral
health problems are situationally based (e.g.,
bereaved families, first responders) or who are at
risk (e.g., frail elderly, military families), in effect
expanding the provider's or agency's penetration
into new markets. This led to a broadening of the
range of services provided statewide to existing
and new clients and to affected communities,
including: (1) evidence-based screening for early
identification of non/under-served affected people,
through trauma exposure-risk screening, and (2)
preventive education materials preparing people
to proactively address the expectable reactions
and prevent persistent problems through the use
of natural support systems and existing services.
11.2.7.3 Community outreach
Outreach for bioterrorism preparedness served as
a vehicle for enhancing existing behavioral health
services and supports by invigorating the collab-
oration between providers and diverse communi-
ties and consumers within a context that utilizes
and empowers indigenous community support
structures (e.g., faith-communities). The CTRP
provided ongoing assertive outreach to diverse
racial, ethnic and cultural communities, given
the prominent role that culturally specific needs,
customs, norms, values, strengths, and vulnera-
bilities of individuals, families, and communities
play in both preparedness for and recovery from
disaster. Culturally informed outreach provided an
opportunity to engage providers and consumers in
recognizing and anticipating the several key risk
factors (e.g., prior trauma history; social isolation)
and the potentially clinically significant peritrau-
matic stress reactions that require attention in the
wake of disaster.
11.2.7.5 Professional education
Training and supervision, both acute and long term,
provided a vehicle for communicating accurate
information (to which behavioral health providers
ordinarily are not privy) about a disaster's public
health and safety impact and about the nature
and steps being taken to mitigate future threats to
public health and safety. CTRP faculty elaborated
the initial training curriculum to create a multi-
component behavioral health disaster response
program delivered in stages over the next 10
months to more than two thousand behavioral
health professionals and other providers of advo-
cacy, spiritual guidance, health care, education,
child care, elder care, and social services via the
Internet and in more than 50 face-to-face trainings
across the state.
Over time, training and supervision shifted
developmentally to parallel the recovery process.
Training and supervision increasingly focused on
areas (i.e., persistent PTSD or substance abuse)
and high risk (e.g., persons with severe mental
11.2.7.4 Statewide network of behavioral
health response teams and prevention
consortia
Consultation and technical assistance provided by
CTRP to local and state agencies and providers
(including the FEMA funded crisis counseling
program) led to the development of five regional
CRRTs with more than 450 active members who
have a training curriculum and participate in
semi-annual live disaster response simulations
co-facilitated and critiqued by disaster mental
health experts and organizations such as the
American Red Cross. A parallel network of
community prevention consortia (CPC) also
was established with multi-constituency working
groups that represented (a) highly affected towns
and cities near New York City in Southwestern
Connecticut and (b) high risk special populations
throughout Connecticut (e.g., families of color,
