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From Crisis to Recovery: Strategic Planning for Response, Resilience, and Recovery |  | Author: George W. Doherty
Creator: Bruce L. Andrews
Publisher: Rocky Mountain DMH Institute Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 2275817
Media: Paperback
Pages: 278
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 7.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 1615990151
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.1968521
EAN: 9781615990153
ASIN: 1615990151
Publication Date: October 20, 2009
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Product Description
Crises Happen... Will You Be Ready?
Crises affect people on many different levels, including psychological well-being. The 2004/2009 tsunamis, hurricanes Rita and Katrina, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are among events continuing to affect millions of lives daily. Potential events like Avian and Swine Flu pandemics, global warming/climate change and threats of spreading unrest in the Middle East are concerns weighing heavily on all. Planning and coordination are important components of responses to crises, disasters, and critical incidents.
Resilience, recovery from crises, community preparation, learning from past experience, and strategically planning for future events are all activities involving education, training and time of first responders, behavioral health professionals, chaplains and others.
Additional response variables include cultural knowledge and sensitivity. We need to respond appropriately within a culture not our own, whether locally, nationally, or internationally. The purpose of a behavioral health plan is to ensure efficient, coordinated and effective responses to behavioral health needs of affected populations during times of disasters and other critical incidents.
Readers of this book will:
Learn how the community and individuals respond to recover from disasters. Identify activities in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. Perform strategic planning and explain how it is helpful in mitigating and responding to disasters, critical incidents and other crises. Understand the mental health services provided to people affected by disasters, critical incidents and other crises. Identify and explain how disaster mental health professionals are affected by responding to disasters, critical incidents and other crises. Understand the stages of disaster recovery and how resilience affects each stage. Learn the signs and symptoms of disaster induced stress and emotional trauma and how resilience mitigates outcomes. Discover the meaning of "Return to Equilibrium" and explain its role in the recovery process following a disaster or critical incident.
Praise for From Crisis to Recovery
"Mr. Doherty has produced an invaluable reference volume for everyone involved in disaster response/disaster preparedness field. It is a must for your library! His attention to detail, breadth of scope, depth of knowledge and readable writing style, reflect the work of an eminent scholar in his field and one who has paid his dues on the frontlines. It represents the ultimate A to Z 'How to Do It' manual in this difficult, complicated field. From the sensitive discussion of clinical issues to the organizational planning details, the clarity and thoroughness of this volume are outstanding. This book should be required reading for everyone involved in this critical field."
--John G. Jones, Ph.D. ABPP ATR-BC Licensed Psychologist
Learn more about the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute at www.RMRinstitute.org
MED003010 Medical : Allied Health Services - Emergency Medical Services
SOC040000 Social Science : Disasters & Disaster Relief
PSY022040 Psychology : Psychopathology - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
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| Customer Reviews:
 Well-Researched and Complete Compilation of Crisis Recovery Planning December 3, 2009
Tyler R. Tichelaar (Marquette, MI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
George W. Doherty continues his work of educating recovery workers so they can help themselves and those directly affected by crises in "From Crisis to Recovery: Strategic Planning for Response, Resilience, and Recovery." This book is a type of follow up to his earlier work, "Crisis Intervention Training for Disaster Workers: An Introduction." While Doherty covers some similar ground in this book, overall, the book is better organized and more reader-friendly, breaking down everything to be considered during a crisis to provide an effective response and recovery from the event.
The first chapter, "What is Stress?" is valuable to everyone, whether the person has been in a disaster, helped at a disaster, or just lived a normal life. While this chapter does not relate to disasters specifically, it is relevant to understand what is the natural level of stress people can handle and what are basic and effective methods of coping with stress, including effective breathing exercises. The many positive side effects of stress are also included because they propel us forward. As Doherty points out later in the book, humans prefer a certain level of risk, rather than stagnation, and if risk is not present, they will create a level of risk comfortable to them. I found all this information helpful in understanding my own stress and anxieties, and I feel better prepared for traumatic situations as a result of reading this book. I can see how this understanding of people's responses to stress is invaluable for understanding how they cope with disasters.
Anyone who will work with people during a crisis will find this book invaluable, especially team leaders who must prepare for all the various aspects of a crisis. As Doherty points out several times, it is important to understand that "No one who sees a disaster is untouched by it." Whether a person loses a home or loved one in the disaster, is part of relief and recovery efforts, or is simply part of the media reporting on the story, all these people have undergone a traumatic experience and need to know how to handle it. Doherty's explanations of understanding how different people cope with trauma, based on age and cultural background, make it clear one method does not fit everyone, one form of grief processing does not heal everyone grieving, and people have to consider the human and individual elements in the recovery process.
Throughout, the book offers practical steps for helping in a crisis. One excellent example was if a crisis worker is told about an elderly person having a difficult time dealing with the crisis, the worker can prioritize what otherwise would be overwhelming by focusing on immediate rather than secondary needs, immediate needs including medication, eyeglasses, and shelter; once immediate needs are determined, the easiest can be tackled first. I thought this suggestion was a practical and stress-relieving way to help the person suffering from the crisis. In addition, Doherty discusses helping children cope with the situation, as well as how disaster workers can explain their absence from home to their own children without traumatizing them with worry. In short, Doherty covers every possible scenario imaginable. I doubt there is anything he did not consider in writing this book. Much of the book seems like common sense, but the material is invaluable as a reminder of what needs to be done, which otherwise workers may not mentally be able to formulate for themselves in the midst of a crisis.
Doherty uses considerable research and references to real disasters ranging from September 11th to hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes to illustrate his points. While at times the book is a bit repetitive, and may also seem a little overwhelming to read from cover to cover, after one thorough read, I think it would serve as a quick and effective reference guide that crisis workers will return to again and again.
Beyond the book's main text, the appendices provide an enormous list of resources--they actually make up over a quarter of the book. Web sites, books, and phone numbers of emergency organizations are included as well as outlines of what is needed for planning consideration, structural organization, and guidelines for setting up processes. Examples of individual "After Action" reports and actual disaster plans are included.
George Doherty is the founder of the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute and its current president/CEO. He also serves as Clinical Coordinator of the Snow Range Critical Incident Stress Management Team. He has been involved in disaster relief since 1995 as a Disaster Mental Health Specialist who has helped people through disasters from train wrecks to hurricanes and flash floods. I admire his expertise, his courage in performing what has to be a traumatic job, and his willingness to share his knowledge to aid workers in helping others and themselves in the most effective ways possible so people can be resilient and recover from the unforeseen disasters they experience.
-- Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D., author of the award-winning Narrow Lives
 Response, recovery, resilience and returning to equilibrium November 17, 2009
Reader Views (Austin, Texas)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (11/09)
Between war, natural disasters and pandemic illnesses, such as the Swine Flu (H1N1), worldwide we are currently experiencing a tremendous amount of stress-inducing events. The proper training of first responders and mental health professionals is critical. Mental health response has been left out of most emergency response models for national, state and local response team training. Incorporating resilience, recovery, and proper preparation into a strategic plan is vital. It is also very important that these professionals have an understanding of other cultures when dealing with people from them in emergency situations.
Every individual can be affected differently by a crisis situation. "From Crisis to Recovery," discusses how the community and the people in it tend to respond to and recover from disasters. Being aware of the effects of both individual and collective trauma is important in how people will be affected. Activities taught involve preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. Learning about resiliency and how it can affect the outcome of disaster induced stress and emotional trauma is very important. Stress reduction techniques are also taught.
I feel that this book is critical for people who are involved in all aspects of crisis response. It is important for these people to acquire the valuable information that is offered here. It is also for the responders to recognize that they too are affected by these crisis situations. By recognizing this, and learning how to effectively handle these stressors, the responders will be able to avoid having to be hindered by the emotional trauma of the situations with which they are dealing. This in turn will allow them to be more effective in a crisis situation and in their personal lives, avoid burn out and avoid needless suffering. "From Crisis to Recovery" by George W. Doherty is written in a manner that not only imparts critical information, but it is also incredibly interesting to read. I highly recommend this book.
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