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COVID-19 Pandemic Response Resources

This PAGE contains fact sheets and other resources to support the health and well-being of communities impacted by COVID-19

No permission is needed to use or adapt these fact sheets for you or your organization. These fact sheets are in the public domain and you may use it freely as it is helpful to you.

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Cambridge University Press has made available a collection of free access Coronavirus materials. Included is a free access chapter from the Textbook of Disaster Psychiatry, "Pandemics: Health Care Emergencies" that can be accessed HERE

Resources for the U.S. Capitol Attack

The recent attack on the U.S. Capitol has evoked a range of emotions as well as upset our beliefs about safety in our country. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) has developed resources to help children, families, and communities navigate what they are seeing and hearing, acknowledge their feelings, and find ways to cope together. Resources can be found at the below links:

Supporting Children After the U.S. Capitol Attack
Coping After Mass Violence
Pause-Reset-Nourish (PRN) to Promote Wellbeing
Parent Guidelines for Helping Youth After Mass Violence
Helping Youth after Community Trauma: Tips for Educators
Helping Teens with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
Helping School-Age Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
Helping Young Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
The Power of Parenting: How to Help Your Child After a Parent or Caregiver Dies

Educators: Tell us about the Impact of COVID-19 on You

CSTS welcomes hearing from teachers about the challenges and strengths of home teaching and teleteaching during this time of the pandemic. Teachers and education are a part of our sustaining of our communities and hearing their needs can help us plan for the future. Emails can be sent to listeningtoeducators@cstsonline.org. Please see this invitation letter for more details.

Supporting Healthcare Professionals in Times of Disaster: Reflections on “At-Risk Employees”

What is unique about the pandemic and its contribution to our country’s actual and perceived risk? Brian W. Flynn, Ed.D., RADM, USPHS, Ret., Associate Director for Health Systems, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Adjunct Professor, and Joshua C. Morganstein, MD, CAPT, USPHS, Associate Director Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Associate Professor and Assistant Chair, both from the Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University, offer a unique view on risk, how it may be manifested in this unprecedented time, and important steps in risk mitigation to enhance sustainment. Note: In this article, we use the term “healthcare worker” to refer to those involved in providing behavioral and physical healthcare. As this and other recent disasters have shown, support staff (e.g., housekeeping, logistics, maintenance, information technology, nutrition) are also being impacted in many of the same ways, and it is critical that they be included in organization-wide resilience-building efforts.

The article and be viewed HERE

CIMVHR symposium

Click HERE to go to symposium.

The extent and implications of chronic pain in the lives of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Veterans and their families are signiﬁcant. This CIMVHR symposium brings together experts and Veterans with lived lives from Canada and the United States to share leading edge developments. Dr. Eric Schoomaker, 42nd U.S. Army Surgeon General and former Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command will open the symposium with a reminder about the important roles of emerging interdisciplinary approaches to managing chronic pain. Dr. Friedhelm Sandbrink, national program director for pain management for the U.S. Veterans Health Administration, will describe lessons learned from the U.S. Departments of Defence and Veterans Affairs in the prevention and treatment of chronic pain employing a stepped care approach that engages primary care. Dr. Ben Kligler, Director of the Office of Patient Centered Care & Cultural Transformation in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration will describe the “whole health” approach to enhancing well-being, including the biopsychosocial management of chronic pain with the integration of complementary practices and conventional modalities. Dr. Ramesh Zacharias, President, CEO and Medical Director of the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans will describe the advances being made in Canada. Finally, a panel moderated by Dr. Schoomaker including a Veteran with lived experience will carve the pathway forward.

Army STARRS: Volume 4, Issue 1, Updated Oct 26, 2020

This document is an ongoing continuous summary of Army STARRS and STARRS-LS publications. Army STARRS (2009-2015) was the largest and most comprehensive research project of mental health among U.S. Army Soldiers ever conducted. The project was designed to examine a broad range of risk and resilience (protective) factors across a complex set of outcomes including suicidal behaviors and associated mental health issues. Army STARRS scientists created a series of large and extensive databases with the potential to achieve groundbreaking results. These databases allow scientists to investigate a diverse combination of factors from demographic, psychological, biological, neurological, behavioral, and social domains with the goal of generating actionable findings for the Army. The project was designed using an adaptive approach which means it evolved as new information became available over the course of the project. The research team shared preliminary findings, as they became available, with senior Army leadership so the Army could apply them to its ongoing health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention efforts. The work is continuing under the STARRS Longitudinal Study (STARRS-LS) which runs from 2015 to 2020.

WEST COAST WILDFIRES DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSE AND RECOVERY RESOURCES

Catastrophic natural disasters, such as the West Coast wildfires, cause extreme disruption and can be distressful for individuals, families and communities, particularly because it is occurring while communities are already dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 (resources can be found HERE ). For resources to help learn about or develop learning material on the behavioral health effects of disasters, see the new Curriculum Recommendations for Disaster Behavioral Health.

Click HERE for brief, action-oriented fact sheets as well as additional information to help individuals, communities, and organizations during the West Coast wildfires.

HURRICANE LAURA DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY RESOURCES

Catastrophic natural disasters, such as Hurricane Laura, cause extreme disruption and can be distressful for individuals, families and communities, particularly because it is occurring while communities are already dealing with the challenges of COVID-19.

Click HERE for resources that provide disaster mental health information to assist families, responders, community leaders, and healthcare providers in response and recovery efforts.

Curriculum Recommendations for Disaster Health Professionals: Disaster Behavioral Health

Second Edition

This guidance document was created with the intent to 1) provide a framework upon which to build disaster behavioral health curricula and 2) compile and give access to up-to-date, credible resources to support such curricula. It is intended for use by those developing and delivering disaster behavioral health training as well as community leaders, policymakers, and others seeking to better understand the behavioral health impacts of disasters on individuals and communities.

Interactive, Mobile Website to Aid Healthcare Providers in Notifying Family Members of Unexpected Deaths

Healthcare providers receive little training on notifying family members of a loved one's unexpected death. The way this information is delivered can have a long-lasting impact on a family's health and well-being. CSTS has developed an interactive, mobile website to serve as a guide for healthcare providers who may find themselves in these situations. https://www.cstsonline.org/notifying-family-members-after-unexpected-deaths.

Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters: 2nd Training Course sponsored by Disaster Psychiatry Canada (DPC) June 8, 2019

The mission and vision of DPC is to develop and maintain a well trained committed team of psychiatric specialists able to serve the mental health needs of people and communities affected by disasters, in coordination with emergency and public health responders. Reduction and prevention of post-disaster mental illness, and fostering of resilience, are also our goals.

Training Course Learning Objectives: By the conclusion of the program, attendees will be able to: • Become skilled in psychiatric diagnosis and management: during and post disasters in adult, child and indigenous populations; • Experience and remedy stresses involved in disasters, and impact on survivors; • Become familiar with special needs of military personnel and veterans • Become adept at collaborating with Red Cross and First Responders • Have increased comfort and confidence in the role of ‘disaster psychiatrist’ • Be aware of College of Physicians mandated duties for physicians in disasters

Please click HERE to access video resources from this event.

DR. URSANO RECEIVES AMSUS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Dr. Robert Ursano, Director of CSTS, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of the USU, was awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS). The AMSUS Lifetime Achievement Award is for a distinguished career of excellence in development, invention, and innovation in healthcare that is recognized internationally and makes significant fundamental contributions of lasting impact to better health outcomes in federal healthcare. AMSUS was founded by Congress in 1903 and is the Society of Federal Health Professionals.

DR. URSANO RECEIVES AMSUS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

PEARL HARBOR & PENSACOLA SHOOTINGS RESPONSE AND RECOVERY RESOURCES

Acts of mass violence, such as the shootings at Naval Shipyard Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida cause extreme disruption and distress for workers assigned to these facilities as well as the broader community. Victims, family and friends, first responders and emergency personnel, as well as workplace and community leaders are among those affected.

Click HERE for resources that provide disaster mental health information to assist families, responders, community leaders, and healthcare providers in response and recovery efforts.

New Fact Sheet: Helping Military Personnel Who Experience Work-Related Trauma Exposure

Service members may be repeatedly exposed to trauma in both combat and non-combat settings. Their exposure may be direct (witnessing), indirect (media exposure, videos, etc), or a combination of both. More distressing trauma of longer duration and repeated exposure can increase the risk for adverse effects, which negatively impact interpersonal relationships and operational readiness.

CSTS has developed a new fact sheet outlining before, during and after recommendations to aid military leaders in helping military personnel who experience work-related trauma exposure. The fact sheet can be accessed HERE

Joining Forces Joining Families, Fall 2019

The subject of the Fall 2019 issue of of Joining Forces Joining Families newsletter focuses on head trauma related to infant/child abuse, sometimes in the past referred to as “shaken baby syndrome,” but more accurately now called abusive head trauma (AHT). Previous issues of the newsletter can be found here.