Integrating Disaster Mental Health and Resiliency Training into Existing Occupational Health and Safety Programs

The National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Training Program (WTP) has been involved in the response to multiple disasters in the Gulf and following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, identified the need for an occupational health training that discussed stress, trauma, mental health effects, and resiliency following disasters.

To address the mental health needs identified by communities, NIEHS WTP developed a three part Disaster resilience training program. The program focuses on introducing mental health to workers, supervisors and care providers. Each audience faces a unique set of stressors in a disaster and this new program addresses these concerns individually.

Program materials have been designed and pilot tested with communities in Louisiana, Alabama and New York.  While created for three unique audiences, modifications and adaptations to meet the unique stressors for disaster case workers, English as a second language learners and community health workers have been undertaken by interested communities.  The ability to modify trainings for unique audiences allows for wide-spread use of materials in multiple disaster prone areas.  Core program components may be added as a stand-alone ‘module’ to existing occupational health trainings, allowing for basic mental health and coping skills to be introduced to an audience which may not otherwise receive them.

This presentation will explore the the important role of communities in program development and the specific need for mental health within occupational health during disasters. Additional discussion of new training audiences and barriers identified through the two year pilot testing component will be included.