UOW Wk 2 Bothell Psychological Aspects of Disasters Discussion Please response to at least three of classmates posts.be natural, informal if you could, pro

UOW Wk 2 Bothell Psychological Aspects of Disasters Discussion Please response to at least three of classmates posts.be natural, informal if you could, provide examples from real life or personal experiences.Remember we are human not robot, so it’s okay to engage some emotional, experiences, and most importantly make sense out of it. Quality over quantities Psychological Aspects of Disaster Discussion Week 2: Reflection #1 – The DMH Responder
1st Classmates!
Adam;
Some character traits that seem necessary for a disaster mental health responder (DMHR)
are:
accessible, adaptable, calm, companionly, compassionate, confident, focused, gentle, helpful,
trusting, warm, wise, and unaggressive.
Some skills that seem necessary for DMHR are:
active listening, professional emotional intelligence, organizationally minded, tolerant, able
to set boundaries, good communication, empathetic, self-aware, socially perceptive,
cognizant of social bearings and settings, and situationally informed.
These character traits and skills sets are ones that I have written down in my own books
while I went through my own DMHR trainings. Some are ones that I have and others are
ones that I strive to improve on every day, every time I need to work with someone(s).
Some character traits that might be a barrier to being effective- there are probably more than
a few:
thievish, unreliable, weak, uncreative, unappreciative, uncaring, ungrateful, unfriendly,
thoughtless, possessive, prim, paranoid, hostile, lazy, irritable, insulting, cruel, abrasive,
angry, aimless, blunt, and asocial.
Some skills that might present barriers would be quite the opposite of skills that would be
necessary, i.e. not paying attention, being intolerable, not setting boundaries, poor
communicator, etc.
It may seem like a no brainer- but I’ve found that a big part of DMHR trainings are the trial
periods, group activities where you can develop or try skills and traits with peers. You find
out quickly how difficult some of these can actually be- especially when you’re using real
past, personal experiences. It’s not always intuitive and many times, situations required
different skills and characteristics, i.e., I wouldn’t work with police and fire personnel
following a difficult call the same way I work with a family of 5 who just lost their house and
everything in it to a tornado.
I’ve found that dealing with civilians, outside of responders, is difficult for me. I have, and
can do it but it takes a much harder toll on me- emotionally and mentally. I think it’s in part
of I have less empathy for people who do less to prepare themselves for
emergencies/disasters. People who don’t evacuate from a flood or hurricane that is forecasted
and then lose everything and become scarred in some fashion- I just have to pour so much
more into the situation because of my lack of empathy for them, as an example. It’s taken a
few years to really engage myself with that idea and work on it but I’m getting better the
longer I’m off an ambulance and off responding to calls on the daily. I would say that almost
any responder is similar in that to get through the work, we compartmentalize aspects of our
work and turn off our normative psycho-social behaviors to get the job and task at hand
done, without debilitating distractions.
2nd Classmates:
Collapse SubdiscussionAnne Graf
Anne Graf
May 21, 2020May 21 at 12:32pm
Manage Discussion Entry
The kinds of character traits and skills that seem necessary for a qualitatively effective
Disaster Mental Health responder is having genuine empathy towards the people in crisis.
The ability to show that the responder cares and is willing to help without being intrusive or
overbearing. It is also important that the DMH responder is flexible and able to
accommodate themselves to the changing disaster response environment. This means being
able to handle stressful chaotic environments and being at risk for possible impact by the
disaster themselves.
The kinds of character traits and skills that might present barriers to be an effective Disaster
Mental Health responder are those who feel the need to heal/ fix/diagnose those impacted by
disasters. In the response of a crisis, those impacted just want to be heard and their
immediate needs taken care of. It may prove ineffective and frustrating to the impacted
individual to try and provide “all the answers” because in many cases these is no answer or
reason as to why they have been impacted. Therefore, listening, comforting and helping
them make their own ‘sense’ of their feelings and experiences may be best.
The traits and skills I think I possess that may be helpful to be an effective Disaster Mental
Health responder would be empathy, calmness and patience. I would avoid being intrusive
and let the crisis impacted individual tell their story without interruption or judgement.
Although, I feel that being able to listen and care for many people impacted by crisis would
definitely have its toll on me. I think it would be very challenging to practice self-care or
maintain my own boundaries while trying to offer mental health assistance to a number of
people. Therefore, I think a role I am better suited for would be one that works in
coordination of agencies/organizations or logistical needs for disaster response.
3rd Classmates’
Collapse SubdiscussionSara Thompson
Sara Thompson
May 21, 2020May 21 at 5:38pm
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The character traits and skills that seem necessary to be an effective Disaster Mental Health
responder include the ability to connect with people, be genuine and respectful, project an
aura of calm, and be empathetic (Halpern & Tramontin, 2007, pp. 12-13). It’s important that
the disaster mental health provider be approachable, and not viewed as having too “clinical”
a personality. The client/survivor must feel as though they aren’t a burden, so having positive
and welcoming body language will make them feel at ease and able to open up to the
provider. The provider should be able to engage in active listening and be able to restate the
client’s concerns to confirm understanding before working toward a solution or measure of
comfort. The provider’s interest and response should be genuine and not appear forced to
further build trust between them and the client.
The traits that might present barriers to being effective include disinterest in the client
and/or their struggles, an inability to empathize, being dismissive or patronizing, unable to
focus on the client’s needs by comparing it to your own experiences and becoming too
invested/personal or intruding too much on the client. These traits can make the survivor
feel defensive, closed off, angry, and unheard. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to
find or provide the correct resources or services to best assist them during response and
recovery.
While I think I have some traits that would make me an effective DMH provider, I think
that my downfall would be having too much empathy and taking too much of other people’s
difficulties with me at the end of the day. I listen well and can connect with people easily,
but I think I would be better suited to identifying resources and connecting people to the
right organizations. I typically like to find solutions and don’t mind spending time
investigating something to see if it’s a good fit. I think it would be much more personally
fulfilling to be able to tell someone that I’ve found a solution and put them in touch with the
resource that can help them.
Halpern, J., & Tramontin, M. (2007). DIsaster Mental Health: Theory and Practice. Belmont,
CA: Brooks/Cole.
4th Classmates;
Saleh Alyami
May 22, 2020May 22 at 4:53pm
Manage Discussion Entry
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.
5th Classmate:
Collapse SubdiscussionElton Le
Elton Le
May 22, 2020May 22 at 7:16pm
Manage Discussion Entry
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

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