FAQs about Disaster Mental Health in the NRV
Question: How do I know when to request disaster mental health in an emergency?
Answer:
Disaster mental health would be requested as part of your Incident Action Plan when:
- There are significant injuries or fatalities
- Damage or loss of home requires displacement
- Children, teens, elders or disabled are involved
- Loss of pets or animals is involved
- Mass casualty
- Bystanders are involved in assisting with rescue
- Public health emergencies
Question: Who do I contact to mobilize this part of the response?
Answer:
- Call the Community Services Board RAFT hotline at 540-961-8400 and tell them you are requesting Disaster Mental Health assistance. The operator will ask a few questions about location, casualties and the emergency involved. They will contact their supervisor to determine if the agency will use its own team or request CDRC assistance.
- The NRV CDRC pager number is 540-558-1008 if you need to contact us directly. Community Services may defer the response to us, ask us to assist, or we may come in for smaller emergency responses through Red Cross or when asked directly.
- Remember to contact NRV CISM for your first responders by calling Blacksburg Police (961-1150) and asking for Kit Cummings or request CISM through dispatch.
Question: What will Disaster Mental Health do as part of an emergency response?
Answer:
Disaster Mental health will work with the EOC and ICS to provide assessment and support for those directly impacted, their families, responders and indirectly impacted. They use trained clinical and peer support team members and coordinate with Community Mental Health, Red Cross, Social Services and other agencies involved. They may help set up family centers, assist with crowd control, do community outreach, provide respite centers for responders and provide education about handling disaster stress. They often hand out water, food, assist at shelters, and distribute resource information to the public. Logistics assistance may be needed, depending on the situation. All disaster related services are provided free of charge.
Question: What kind of training do Disaster Mental Health team members receive?
Answer:
NRV CDRC Support Team members, including Disaster Spiritual Care members, participate in an 8 hour certification course, criminal background check and receive identification badges to be worn when on duty. We also need to participate in local drills and planning in order to be a cohesive part of the emergency operations
Question: What else does the NRV CDRC provide?
Answer:
The NRV CDRC supports itself by providing training for agencies, facilities, professional groups and the general public on Psychological First Aid, Disaster Mental Health, Disaster Spiritual Care, Addressing Special Needs in Disaster and other courses described in our Training Section. We have provided consulting services nationally to agencies and facilities for creating and maintaining in-house response teams, writing disaster mental health response plans and Continuity of Operations plans.
