Disaster Mental Health at the Red Cross

Disaster Mental Health at the Red Cross – Restoring Hope After Tragedy

When hurricanes tear through coastal communities, wildfires consume entire neighborhoods, or sudden tragedies shatter the normalcy of daily life, the immediate focus naturally turns to physical safety—evacuations, emergency shelters, medical care, and basic survival needs. Yet beneath the visible destruction lies an equally critical crisis: the profound psychological impact that disasters inflict on individuals, families, and entire communities. Trauma, grief, anxiety, and overwhelming stress can persist long after the last emergency vehicle has departed and the news cameras have moved on. This is where the American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health (DMH) teams step in—specially trained mental health professionals who volunteer their expertise to provide compassionate support during humanity’s most challenging moments. These dedicated responders understand that true disaster recovery requires healing both the physical landscape and the emotional wounds that catastrophic events leave behind, working tirelessly to restore not just homes and infrastructure, but hope, resilience, and the human spirit itself.

This post gives a brief insight into what the American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health team does in such situations.

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The Immediate Psychological Impact of Disasters: Understanding Trauma and Stress Responses

Red Cross Recognition of Universal Psychological Impact

These unexpected and sudden events can also bring psychological distress for those who are affected, as well as for workers and volunteers supporting a disaster relief operation. The American Red Cross recognizes that disasters create psychological wounds that are just as real and significant as physical injuries, requiring specialized mental health interventions alongside traditional emergency services.

The emotional impact of a disaster often leads to feelings of stress, uncertainty, insecurity and anxiety. To help people cope with these symptoms, the Red Cross provides professional mental health support as part of its portfolio of disaster response services. This integrated approach acknowledges that true disaster recovery cannot occur without addressing the psychological aftermath of traumatic events.

Common Immediate Reactions Identified by Red Cross

Predictable Stress Responses When we experience a disaster or other stressful life event, we can have a variety of reactions, all of which can be common responses to difficult situations. The Red Cross educates survivors that their emotional responses are normal reactions to abnormal circumstances, helping to reduce shame and encourage help-seeking.

Red Cross materials identify common immediate reactions including:

Shock and disbelief about what has happened
Confusion and difficulty making decisions
Anxiety and fear about the future and safety
Grief and sadness over losses (people, property, lifestyle)
Anger and irritability toward family, friends, or agencies
Physical symptoms such as headaches, loss of appetite, or difficulty sleeping
Difficulty concentrating or remembering things

Vulnerable Population Considerations Children, senior citizens, people with disabilities and people for whom English is not their first language are especially at risk and may need extra care. The Red Cross specifically trains DMH volunteers to recognize that certain populations may experience more intense reactions or face additional barriers to recovery.

Red Cross Approach to Children’s Disaster Reactions

Understanding Children’s Unique Responses When disaster strikes, a child’s view of the world as a safe and predictable place is temporarily lost. How parents and other adults respond can help children recover more quickly and more completely. Red Cross DMH volunteers work with families to help parents understand and respond appropriately to their children’s disaster reactions.

Children experience traumatic events differently. Experiencing a disaster can leave children feeling frightened, confused and insecure, particularly if this experience is not their first. The Red Cross recognizes that children may not be able to verbalize their distress, making behavioral observation crucial for identifying those who need support.

Behavioral Indicators in Children Because they can’t always talk about their worries, it sometimes comes out in a child’s behavior. Some may react immediately. Others may be fine for weeks or months and then show troubling behavior. Red Cross volunteers help parents and caregivers recognize these delayed reactions and understand that they are normal responses to trauma.

Timeline and Recovery Expectations

Normal Recovery Process Most of these reactions are temporary and will go away over time. Try to accept whatever reactions you may have. Look for ways to take one step at a time. Focus on taking care of your disaster-related needs and those of your family. The Red Cross emphasizes that most disaster survivors will recover naturally over time with appropriate support and resources.

When to Seek Additional Help The Red Cross provides clear guidance about when professional intervention may be needed: If you or a loved one experience some of these reactions for two weeks or longer, you may need to reach out for assistance This timeframe helps survivors and their families understand when their reactions may benefit from professional mental health support.

Red Cross Support Philosophy

Professional Mental Health Integration Today, with approximately 3,000 licensed mental health volunteers, the Red Cross is able to assist those who are coping with the impact of a disaster that may be felt long after the immediate danger has passed—including from our own Red Cross disaster workers. These specialty trained volunteers respond to immediate emotional distress, mitigate long-term consequences, and help augment a community’s mental health resources, rather than replacing them.

Universal Entitlement to Support But everyone, even the people that others look up to for guidance and assistance, is entitled to their feelings. Everyone deserves support throughout the recovery process. This philosophy ensures that Red Cross responders themselves receive mental health support, recognizing that helping others through trauma can create secondary traumatic stress.

Immediate Response and Accessibility

24/7 Crisis Support The Red Cross ensures immediate access to mental health support through partnerships and referrals: For free 24/7 counseling or support, call or text the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990. This immediate accessibility reflects the understanding that psychological crises don’t follow business hours.

Through this comprehensive understanding of immediate psychological impact, Red Cross DMH volunteers are equipped to provide informed, compassionate support that normalizes disaster reactions while identifying those who may need additional professional intervention. Their approach balances the recognition that most people will recover naturally with the understanding that professional mental health support can significantly improve outcomes for those experiencing more severe or prolonged reactions.

Red Cross Mental Health Teams: Who They Are and How They Respond to Crisis

Who They Are: Professional Qualifications and Composition

Red Cross Disaster Mental Health (DMH) teams consist of carefully vetted mental health professionals who volunteer their expertise during times of crisis. These volunteers must meet specific eligibility criteria and complete extensive training before deployment.

Professional Backgrounds: The teams are composed of licensed mental health professionals including:

Licensed professional counselors and therapists
Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists
Licensed clinical social workers
Marriage and family therapists
Other credentialed mental health practitioners

Training and Certification Requirements: All DMH volunteers must complete rigorous preparation including multiple required online training modules totaling 4-5 hours, plus specialized disaster mental health coursework. They receive training in Psychological First Aid, crisis intervention techniques, and Red Cross-specific protocols for disaster response.

Volunteer Commitment: DMH volunteers are expected to deploy for a minimum of 7 working days when called upon, with the possibility of longer deployments for major disasters. They may be housed in staff shelters alongside other Red Cross responders and work in challenging conditions while providing critical mental health support.

How They Respond: Multi-Layered Crisis Support

1. Immediate Response and Deployment DMH volunteers are rapidly deployed to disaster scenes through various mechanisms:

Local chapter activation for smaller incidents like house fires
Regional and national deployment for large-scale disasters
Direct deployment process for major operations when local capacity is exceeded

2. Diverse Service Delivery Methods The teams provide flexible support through multiple channels:

Emergency Shelter Operations: DMH volunteers work directly with disaster-affected clients in emergency shelters, listening to and talking with them about their experiences, stress levels and coping skills.

Community Outreach: Teams conduct outreach in affected neighborhoods, meeting survivors where they are and providing accessible mental health support without requiring formal appointments.

Virtual Support: Following initial contact, DMH volunteers offer virtual follow-up sessions, ensuring continuity of care even when physical presence isn’t possible.

3. Clinical Interventions and Assessment DMH volunteers are trained to provide:

Psychological First Aid and psychoeducation as appropriate
Mental health assessments to identify immediate risks and needs
Crisis intervention and community referrals when targeted interventions are needed
Coping skills training and resilience-building techniques

4. Supporting the Support System Beyond serving disaster survivors, DMH teams provide crucial support to:

Red Cross staff and volunteers experiencing secondary trauma
First responders and emergency personnel
Community leaders and volunteers coordinating local response efforts

5. Long-term Recovery Integration DMH teams bridge the gap between immediate crisis response and long-term mental health recovery by:

Connecting survivors with local mental health resources
Providing referrals to ongoing therapy and support services
Training community members to recognize ongoing mental health needs
Supporting the development of community resilience programs

This comprehensive approach ensures that Red Cross DMH teams provide both immediate psychological stabilization and pathways to longer-term healing for individuals and communities affected by disasters.

Psychological First Aid: Essential Support Techniques Used in Disaster Relief

Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence-informed modular approach to help children, adolescents, adults, and families in the immediate aftermath of disaster and terrorism. PFA is designed to reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic events and to foster short- and long-term adaptive functioning and coping.

The Eight Core PFA Actions

The eight PFA Core Actions include:

1. Contact and Engagement To respond to contacts initiated by survivors, or to initiate contacts in a non-intrusive, compassionate, and helpful manner. This involves approaching survivors with warmth and respect, introducing yourself clearly, and asking how you can help rather than making assumptions about their needs.

2. Safety and Comfort To enhance immediate and ongoing safety, and provide physical and emotional comfort. Responders assess both physical dangers and emotional distress, helping create environments where survivors feel secure and protected from additional harm.

3. Stabilization (if needed) To calm and orient emotionally overwhelmed or disoriented survivors. This technique is used when survivors are experiencing severe emotional distress, panic, or confusion that interferes with their ability to function or make decisions.

4. Information Gathering on Current Needs and Concerns To identify immediate needs and concerns, gather additional information, and tailor Psychological First Aid interventions. Responders listen actively to understand what survivors are experiencing and what they need most urgently.

5. Practical Assistance To offer practical help to survivors in addressing immediate needs and concerns. This might include helping locate missing family members, finding temporary shelter, or accessing basic necessities like food and water.

6. Connection with Social Supports To help establish brief or ongoing contacts with primary support persons and other sources of support, including family members, friends, and community helping resources. Responders recognize that social connections are crucial for recovery and work to strengthen these networks.

7. Information on Coping To provide information about stress reactions and coping to reduce distress and promote adaptive functioning. This involves normalizing stress reactions and teaching practical coping strategies that survivors can use immediately and in the future.

8. Linkage with Collaborative Services To link survivors with available services needed at the time or in the future. Responders connect survivors with appropriate resources, from immediate medical care to longer-term mental health services.

Key Principles and Approaches

Evidence-Based Foundation Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence-informed approach that is built on the concept of human resilience. PFA aims to reduce stress symptoms and assist in a healthy recovery following a traumatic event, natural disaster, public health emergency, or even a personal crisis.

Flexible Delivery PFA is designed for delivery in diverse settings. Mental health and other disaster response workers may be called upon to provide Psychological First Aid in general population shelters, special needs shelters, field hospitals and medical triage areas, acute care facilities (e.g., Emergency Departments), staging areas or respite centers for first responders or other relief workers, emergency operations centers, crisis hotlines or phone banks, feeding locations, disaster assistance service centers, family reception and assistance centers, homes, businesses, and other community settings.

Assumption of Resilience PFA does not assume that all survivors will develop severe mental health problems or long-term difficulties in recovery. Instead, it is based on an understanding that disaster survivors and others affected by such events will experience a broad range of early reactions (e.g., physical, psychological, behavioral, spiritual).

Responsive to Individual Needs Providers should be flexible, and base the amount of time they spend on each core action on the survivors’ specific needs and concerns. This individualized approach ensures that each person receives the most appropriate level and type of support.

These PFA techniques form the foundation of disaster mental health response, providing a structured yet flexible framework for delivering immediate psychological support while promoting natural recovery processes and connecting survivors with ongoing resources for healing.

Supporting Survivors Through the Recovery Process: From Crisis to Rebuilding

Taking those first steps toward recovery can be easier with a little support. Red Cross Disaster Mental Health volunteers provide that support. These 3,000 compassionate professionals volunteer their considerable skills and training to respond when disaster strikes. The recovery phase represents a critical transition period where survivors move from immediate crisis response toward long-term healing and rebuilding their lives.

Providing Continued Emotional Support: Processing Complex Trauma

Understanding the Recovery Timeline The emotional recovery process extends far beyond the immediate disaster response phase. During the early days of a disaster response, the Red Cross focuses on filling the immediate needs of disaster victims. But this is not the end of our support ─ when resources allow, the Red Cross may provide additional long-term recovery support. DMH volunteers recognize that grief, trauma, and stress reactions can intensify or emerge weeks or months after the initial event as survivors begin to fully comprehend their losses.

Specialized Grief and Trauma Processing DMH volunteers help individuals and families navigate the complex emotional landscape of disaster recovery by:

Providing safe spaces for survivors to express their feelings without judgment
Helping individuals understand that delayed emotional reactions are normal parts of the healing process
Supporting families as they process both tangible losses (homes, possessions) and intangible losses (sense of security, community connections)
Addressing survivor guilt, especially among those who escaped serious harm when others did not
Working with children and adolescents who may struggle to understand and express their disaster-related emotions

Addressing Secondary Trauma Recovery support also extends to addressing secondary trauma that can affect entire communities. DMH volunteers help survivors cope with the ongoing stress of insurance claims, temporary housing situations, financial strain, and the prolonged disruption of normal life routines that can persist for months or years after a disaster.

Facilitating Referrals: Building Bridges to Long-Term Care

Strategic Partnership Networks DMH volunteers serve as crucial connectors between immediate disaster relief and comprehensive mental health care systems. Their partnerships extend beyond Mental Health America to include:

Local community mental health centers and private practice therapists
Substance abuse treatment programs for those using alcohol or drugs to cope
Support groups for specific types of losses (bereaved parents, displaced families, business owners)
Specialized trauma treatment providers trained in evidence-based therapies like EMDR or cognitive behavioral therapy

Culturally Responsive Referrals Recognizing that recovery looks different across diverse communities, DMH volunteers are trained to:

Connect survivors with mental health providers who share their cultural background or language
Identify faith-based counseling resources for survivors who prefer spiritually-integrated support
Locate services that accommodate disabilities, economic constraints, or transportation limitations
Advocate for survivors who face barriers to accessing traditional mental health services

Follow-Up and Care Coordination The referral process doesn’t end with making connections. DMH volunteers often:

Conduct follow-up contacts to ensure survivors successfully connected with referred services
Coordinate care between multiple providers when survivors need comprehensive support
Advocate with insurance companies or social services to ensure continued access to mental health care
Provide bridge support during waiting periods for specialized services

Community Training: Building Resilient Networks

Peer Support Development Psychologists can help their communities prepare before disasters strikes, take steps to address emotional distress in the midst of tragedy, and build resilience skills to facilitate longer-term recovery. DMH volunteers conduct comprehensive community training programs that include:

Teaching community members to recognize signs of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other stress responses in their neighbors and loved ones
Training local leaders, teachers, and community organizers in basic psychological first aid techniques
Developing community-specific response plans that incorporate mental health considerations
Creating peer support networks that can function independently of professional mental health services

Educational Workshops and Resources Community training initiatives encompass multiple formats:

Large group presentations on disaster mental health topics for schools, workplaces, and community organizations
Small group workshops focused on specific populations (elderly residents, parents, business owners)
Train-the-trainer programs that enable community members to conduct their own mental health awareness sessions
Development of culturally appropriate educational materials that communities can use for ongoing education

Building Community Resilience The ultimate goal of community training is to strengthen the social fabric that supports recovery. This involves:

Helping communities identify their existing strengths and resources that can be mobilized during future crises
Teaching communities how to recognize and combat disaster-related stigma and discrimination
Fostering community connections that serve as protective factors against mental health problems
Encouraging the development of mutual aid networks that can provide ongoing emotional and practical support

Casualty Support: Caring for Those Facing Ultimate Loss

Comprehensive Bereavement Support When disasters result in deaths or serious injuries, DMH volunteers provide specialized casualty support that addresses the unique needs of those facing profound loss:

Immediate crisis intervention for family members receiving news of death or serious injury
Ongoing bereavement counseling that acknowledges the complicated grief associated with sudden, traumatic loss
Support for families navigating the practical challenges of funeral arrangements, legal proceedings, and estate matters while grieving
Group support sessions for multiple families affected by casualties from the same disaster

Supporting Red Cross Workers These unexpected and sudden events can also bring psychological distress for those who are affected, as well as for workers and volunteers supporting a disaster relief operation. Casualty support extends to Red Cross staff and volunteers who may experience:

Secondary trauma from witnessing human suffering and loss
Personal grief when casualties involve community members they know
Professional stress from managing multiple traumatic situations simultaneously
Vicarious trauma from listening to survivors’ stories of loss and suffering

Specialized Interventions for Traumatic Loss DMH volunteers are trained in specific techniques for supporting those affected by traumatic death, including:

Critical Incident Stress Management for first responders and disaster workers
Complicated grief therapy referrals for those struggling with prolonged, intense grief reactions
Family crisis intervention when deaths strain family relationships or create conflicts
Memorial and commemoration support to help communities honor their losses while moving toward healing

Restoring Control and Rebuilding Lives

Empowerment-Focused Approach The Red Cross utilizes psychological first-aid strategies when counseling a person in the aftermath of a disaster. This evidenced-based approach creates a place of safety, connectedness and hope to reduce stress symptoms and put the person on the path to a healthy recovery. The overarching goal of DMH support during recovery is to help survivors reclaim their sense of agency and control over their lives.

This involves helping survivors:

Identify their personal strengths and coping resources that can guide their recovery
Set realistic, achievable goals for rebuilding their lives step by step
Develop new routines and structures that provide stability and predictability
Reconnect with their values and priorities to guide decision-making during reconstruction
Build confidence in their ability to handle future challenges and setbacks

Through this comprehensive, multi-layered approach to recovery support, DMH volunteers serve as bridges between the chaos of disaster and the possibility of renewed hope, helping entire communities not just survive but ultimately thrive in the aftermath of tragedy.

Building Community Resilience: How Disaster Mental Health Programs Strengthen Communities

Emergency and disaster preparedness is often centred on preparing the physical environment. Moving the emphasis from the physical to the personal, people can be physically and mentally better prepared to face and recover from these events. DMH programs recognize that true community resilience extends beyond stockpiling supplies and evacuation plans—it requires building emotional capacity and social connections that enable communities to not just survive disasters, but emerge stronger.

Preparedness Education: Proactive Mental Health Investment

Pre-Disaster Training Programs Red Cross Disaster Preparedness Volunteers teach people how to reduce the risk of disaster, prepare to respond effectively, and cope with disasters when they happen. DMH programs implement comprehensive preparedness education that includes:

Community-Wide Psychological First Aid Training: Teaching citizens basic PFA skills so they can provide immediate emotional support to neighbors during disasters. This creates a network of trained responders throughout the community rather than relying solely on professional services.

Resilience-Building Workshops: Educational sessions that help individuals and families develop emotional coping strategies before stress occurs. These workshops cover topics like stress management, communication skills during crisis, and building personal support networks.

School-Based Programs: Working with educational institutions to integrate disaster mental health awareness into curricula, teaching children age-appropriate coping skills and helping educators recognize signs of trauma in students.

Workplace Preparedness: Training employers and employees to recognize and respond to psychological impacts of disasters on workers, including business continuity planning that accounts for mental health needs.

Building Psychological Infrastructure Preparedness education creates what researchers call “psychological infrastructure”—the collective mental health capacity of a community. This includes:

Establishing common language and understanding about stress responses and recovery
Creating social norms that encourage help-seeking and mutual support
Developing community knowledge about available mental health resources before they’re needed
Training informal leaders (coaches, religious leaders, community organizers) in basic mental health support skills

Cultural Competency: Inclusive and Respectful Service Delivery

Working with Cultural Brokers In your disaster planning enlist cultural brokers (persons with cultural backgrounds similar to your anticipated disaster service constituency) to bridge, link, or mediate among persons of different cultural backgrounds for the purpose of reducing conflict or producing change. DMH programs recognize that effective disaster response must acknowledge and respect cultural differences in how communities understand trauma, healing, and help-seeking.

Cultural brokers serve multiple essential functions:

Translating not just language but cultural concepts and approaches to mental health
Helping DMH volunteers understand community-specific trauma responses and coping mechanisms
Identifying trusted community leaders who can serve as liaisons during disaster response
Ensuring that mental health interventions align with cultural values and practices

Spiritual Care Integration Red Cross Provides Nondenominational Spiritual Care recognizing that for many survivors, spiritual and religious resources are primary sources of comfort and meaning-making during disasters. DMH programs work closely with spiritual caregivers to:

Provide holistic support that addresses both psychological and spiritual needs
Respect diverse religious and spiritual practices in healing approaches
Coordinate care between mental health professionals and faith leaders
Acknowledge the role of spiritual community in long-term recovery

Culturally Responsive Programming Effective cultural competency extends beyond individual interactions to program design:

Developing mental health materials in multiple languages and cultural contexts
Training DMH volunteers to recognize how different cultures express distress and seek help
Adapting intervention approaches to align with cultural healing practices
Building partnerships with ethnic community organizations, cultural centers, and immigrant service agencies

Reducing Stigma: Normalizing Mental Health Support

Community Education Campaigns DMH programs actively work to reduce mental health stigma through targeted education that:

Normalizes emotional responses to disaster as natural and expected reactions to abnormal events
Shares stories of recovery and resilience from community members who received mental health support
Educates communities about the difference between normal stress responses and clinical mental health conditions
Challenges cultural or generational beliefs that discourage help-seeking

Professional Integration Stigma reduction occurs through integration of mental health considerations into all aspects of disaster response:

Training all Red Cross volunteers (not just DMH specialists) to recognize and respond appropriately to emotional distress
Embedding mental health screening and support into routine disaster services like shelter operations and case management
Demonstrating through visible presence that mental health support is a standard, expected part of disaster recovery

Peer Support Networks Perhaps most powerfully, DMH programs reduce stigma by creating peer support networks where survivors help other survivors:

Training disaster survivors to become peer support specialists for future disasters
Facilitating support groups where community members share experiences and coping strategies
Highlighting community members who have successfully navigated disaster recovery with mental health support

Empowering Communities: Building Sustainable Capacity

Self-Care Education and Practice Community empowerment begins with teaching individuals and families practical self-care strategies that can be implemented without professional intervention:

Stress management techniques that can be practiced daily and intensified during crisis
Recognition of personal warning signs of excessive stress or trauma reactions
Development of personal support networks and communication plans for use during disasters
Building family resilience through improved communication and problem-solving skills

Mutual Support System Development DMH programs help communities create sustainable mutual support systems by:

Training community members to facilitate support groups and informal helping networks
Establishing community resource networks that connect neighbors with different skills and resources
Creating communication systems that enable rapid mobilization of community support during future disasters
Developing community leadership capacity for coordinating mental health response

Resource Access and Navigation Empowerment includes ensuring communities know how to access and navigate mental health resources:

Creating community resource directories with mental health services, support groups, and crisis hotlines
Training community members to serve as resource navigators who help others find appropriate services
Advocating for increased mental health services in underserved communities
Building relationships between communities and mental health providers before disasters occur

Integrating Mental Health Across the Disaster Cycle

Mitigation Phase Integration During non-disaster periods, DMH programs work to:

Advocate for community planning that considers mental health impacts (such as maintaining social networks during evacuations)
Support community development projects that strengthen social cohesion and collective efficacy
Build partnerships between mental health providers and emergency management agencies
Conduct vulnerability assessments that identify populations at highest risk for disaster-related mental health problems

Preparedness Phase Integration Beyond education, DMH integration in preparedness includes:

Ensuring emergency plans account for mental health needs of vulnerable populations
Training emergency responders in basic mental health awareness and de-escalation techniques
Establishing mutual aid agreements between mental health providers across regions
Creating pre-positioned mental health resources and communication systems

Response and Recovery Phase Integration Between May and September 2024, the Risk Reduction and Resilience team successfully hosted over 40 webinars, reaching more than 1,500 participants. These sessions, offered in both English and French, focused on key topics such as general emergency preparedness, extreme heat, wildfires, mental health During active disaster response and long-term recovery, mental health considerations are embedded throughout:

Integrating mental health screening into all client interactions
Ensuring disaster relief operations support rather than undermine community social networks
Coordinating mental health response with housing, employment, and other recovery services
Collecting data on mental health impacts to inform future preparedness efforts

Through this comprehensive, culturally responsive approach to building community resilience, DMH programs help create communities that are not just better prepared for the next disaster, but are stronger, more connected, and more emotionally healthy even in non-disaster times. The ultimate goal is communities that view challenges as opportunities for growth and that have the psychological and social resources to support all members through any crisis they may face.

Beyond the Storm: How Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Teams Build Resilient Communities Through Crisis and Recovery

Red Cross Disaster Mental Health teams represent far more than emergency responders—they are community builders, resilience architects, and hope restorers who understand that true disaster recovery encompasses both physical reconstruction and emotional healing. Through their comprehensive approach spanning immediate crisis intervention to long-term community empowerment, DMH volunteers create ripple effects that strengthen the social fabric of entire communities.

By integrating mental health support into every phase of the disaster cycle, from preparedness education to recovery support, these dedicated professionals ensure that when the next crisis strikes, communities are not just physically ready but emotionally equipped to face challenges together. Their work reminds us that in our most vulnerable moments, human connection and compassionate care become the foundation upon which individuals, families, and entire communities rebuild not just their structures, but their sense of hope, resilience, and shared humanity.

For more information please visit https://www.redcross.org/. The site has more details on the above, and ways you can help in their various teams across the country. We also recorded an accompanying podcast where Dr. Tom Hlenski talks about the work of the Disaster Mental Health team. It can be found here.