Responding to Disaster Mental Health Effectively Discussion
Need help with my Health & Medical question – I’m studying for my class.
POST 1-
A major disaster requires competent people to respond to mental health effectively. Competencies for this kind of role require personal characteristics such as motivation, traits, and self-concept. Responders who have experience in dealing with disasters are considered to have particular traits such as adaptability, a sense of humor, flexibility, patience, and being productive in actual emergencies. It is also essential for a responder to have attributes that cannot be instilled through training. Therefore, competency does not entirely rely on education and training. King et al. (2010) state that critical characteristic in a responder who is competent in disaster mental health is that they are not limited in knowledge and skills, which must include in disaster training.
Some attributes cannot be instilled through disaster training. Qualities like patience are challenging to teach, and if a responder lacks it, it becomes ineffective in disaster mental health. Some responders may be unable to adapt to the conditions they have been sent to serve. Lack of adaptability traits lowers effectiveness, thus affecting their performance. It, therefore, presents a barrier to disaster mental health if the responders are not flexible. Flexibility is an outstanding personality trait for a responder to have as different victims are handled differently, and every disaster is different from the other. A responder should also be accommodative, and lacking this trait will hinder their effectiveness in disaster mental health.
I believe that I have a personal trait of being helpful in any task given. Therefore, as a responder, I would be very useful by offering my services more than the expected standards, to achieve the intended results. Having a sense of humor is also one of my traits, and it would be crucial as I will be accommodative and easy to talk to and lift moods of the victims. Stress management would be a challenge to me as the environment present is tense on a regular basis, and there is the fear of being seen as weak since it will show that you are not up to the job.
Reference
King, R., North, C., Larkin, G., Downs, D., Klein, K., & Fowler, R. et al. (2010). Attributes of Effective Disaster Responders: Focus Group Discussions With Key Emergency Response Leaders. Retrieved 22 May 2020, from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/disaster-medicine-and-public-health-preparedness/article/attributes-of-effective-disaster-responders-focus-group-discussions-with-key-emergency-response-leaders/4B0BCA824BD3B0CC0407A961709BEE71
POST2-
To be a qualitatively effective Disaster Mental Health responder
A Disaster Mental Health responder (DMHR) is individuals that offer disaster health need to people during all the phases of disaster. Therefore a DMHR needs to be mentally and physically healthy before addressing the needs of the people in the community. A DMHR requires to possess skills that are essential in situational awareness. Situational awareness enables the responder to implement and develop various plans necessary for mitigating issues or disasters (King et al., 2015).
Necessary Character Traits and Skills
An effective DMHR needs to possess character traits such as the ability to work as a team, excellent communication, quick and informed decision making, flexibility, and empathy. In most cases, disaster management requires individuals to work in teams for effective management. The ability to work as a team helps ensure that the roles are well shared, and individuals can work on specific issues effectively. The concept of empathy has been a substantial subject of interest in the medical field in general. Empathy is a real emotional response to the apparent emotional experience of others. It is mainly the capability to comprehend the emotional state of other individuals and the skill in treating and handling them considering their emotional reactions. Excellent communication skills are also essential in addressing most of the procedures and instructions required to be directed to be people coherently. Quick decision making is the primary skill since disasters are unplanned, and individuals need to develop plans to mitigate them quickly. Emergency occurs in different regions and in different environments. Therefore, A DMHR needs to be flexible and quickly adapt to the changing climate.
Barriers to an Effective DMHR
Some of the character traits that can hinder effectiveness as a DMHR include micromanagement, creativity, and lack of interpersonal characteristics. Micromanagement involves the conditions where an individual wants to lead in every aspect and, therefore, does not support teamwork. Lack of creativity can prevent effectiveness since creativity helps ensure that all the necessary needs are well addressed and worked upon by the teams. Lack of personal traits disturb an individual’s ability to relate to fellow team members and prevents the establishment of collaboration among the members.
My Trait
If I were administered the role of a DMHR, most of my traits would be relevant and increase my operation’s effectiveness. My ability to work as a team and to be a top thinker would serve well as a DMHR. These character traits would play a significant role in making quick decisions and addressing any issues effectively and efficiently. I am also an excellent communicator who is also essential as a DMHR. With these and other traits, I think the one aspect that can be challenging for me is that I am a bit impatient, which I think can be a big drawback within this field. Giving the affected people time to spell out their ordeals also gives you a better position to understand them and provides the best help that they need in their situation.
References
King, R. V., Burkle, F. M., Walsh, L. E., & North, C. S. (2015). Competencies for disaster mental health. Current psychiatry reports, 17(3), 14.
POST3-
Disaster mental health (DMH) requires compassion, patience, creativity, communication, and determination to let survivor express their grief and decrease the level of anxiety. DMH workers should start off building a rapport with the person to feel comfortable, such as small talk. This helps the survivor to relax and further expand their emotions. However, the DMH worker must take it step by step in not being overwhelmed by the survivor’s emotions. According to Halpren and Tramotin (2007), good self-care and maintain boundaries in order to provide sympathy while continuing to have a professional identity.
To be an ineffective DMH worker would be the complete opposite of the requirements mentioned in the paragraph above. Being insensitive, impatient, and arrogant of the survivor’s mental health problems can lead to neglecting their needs and feelings. This can create the survivor to not openly be vulnerable due to the fear of being judged or hurt.
The character traits and skills I can see myself portrayed as a DMH worker are compassion and patience. The only way this can be relatable for me was during my time as a behavior technician, or interventionist. It was a good experience to learn about children’s behaviors in autism spectrum disorder. It developed my skills to patiently build rapport with the child and show compassion when educating them to overcome or adapt, certain behaviors, such as being aggressive or have tantrums. It always puts a smile on my face when a child progresses from negative to positive behaviors. Thus, experience utilizing compassion and patience, I believe, can further be helpful as a DMH worker.
The only challenge for the role of a DMH worker, in my opinion, is setting your boundaries. When listening to the survivor’s experience, you want to empathize with them but not provide a comparison of your own life experience. Even though the connection is essential to build rapport with the survivor, separating personal life and career as a DMH worker displays the right practice decisions.
Halpern, J., & Tramontin, M. (2007). Disaster mental health: Theory and practice. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole—-
Requirement:
- 1-Write one response for each post, at least 400 words
- 2-Write as second language
- 3-Include references
