OHA and ODHS are excited to announce the pilot launch of a brand-new course for providing immediate emotional support to survivors of disaster.
Oregon Immediate Emotional Support in Disasters (OR-IESD), a Psychological First Aid (PFA) and disaster behavioral health field response training
Oregon is developing a 16-hour training to include learning on your own before class (8 hours) as well as in-person class instruction and group collaboration (8 hours). The training is heavily informed with evidence-based principles of Psycological First Aid (PFA) and disaster behavioral health field response.
What is PFA?
Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a promising practice for disaster behavioral health response. Both PFA was developed by the National Center for PTSD and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, as well as other individuals involved in coordinating and participating in disaster response and recovery.
PFA intervention strategies are intended for use with children, adolescents, parents and caretakers, families, and adults who are survivors or witnesses exposed to disaster or terrorism. PFA can also be provided to first responders and other disaster relief workers.
PFA is a supportive intervention for use in the immediate aftermath of disasters and terrorism. The delivery of PFA is defined in terms of days or weeks after a disaster (timing will depend on the circumstances of the post-disaster setting). PFA is often delivered in temporary settings where professional follow-up may not be possible.
What is the Oregon state initiative?
In an effort to build a state-cadre of trainers and increase accessibility and familiarity of these critical disaster response skills we are proud to begin offering pilot deliveries of the Oregon Immediate Emotional Support in Disasters (OR-IESD) course. The joint-agency initiative focused a lot of planning efforts to ensure the course content and format are culturally relevant for our many diverse communities in Oregon. Our goal is to make this curriculum and training more available within communities in order to build local capacity and resilience, and enable partners and community-based organizations to offer training at no cost throughout the state.
While these trainings are designed for supporting community emotional health during and after a disaster, we also see them as helpful frameworks for reinforcing community-based behavioral health supports during all times.
