One of the toughest things people face in a disaster is stress, whether you’re a responder, a survivor or both. And it’s the thing people may expect the least.

Since 1949, agencies, organizations, and individuals dedicated to the emotional health and well being of everyone devoted the month of May to raising awareness of mental health conditions and mental wellness for all. Mental Health Awareness Month is a perfect time to get involved in making sure your community is prepared and able to recover from the psychological impact of a disaster. Being prepared for the psychological impact of a disaster is important in helping your family and your community become more resilient in a crisis of any kind.

To learn more about how to provide basic support to help your family, friends, and neighbors take Psychological First Aid training. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s National Child Traumatic Stress Network offers an online course free of charge. You will be shown the skills to help you make a difference for people who experience any distressing event. Disasters strike with little warning, so make sure that you’ve got the skills and training to help your family and friends manage the stress of a disaster before a disaster strikes your community.

Your efforts would complement work done by trained responders in disaster behavioral health. These professionals from volunteer organizations, professional associations, community mental health providers, and government agencies – provide disaster survivors and responders with support in mental health, substance abuse, and stress management. These services help people tap into their natural resilience, coping and support systems. By working together on disaster behavioral health, we can avoid serious behavioral health reactions that can come from a disaster, and people can start feeling better faster.

Here at ASPR, we pay attention year-round to the mental and behavioral health needs of people impacted by emergencies. Events like Hurricane Katrina, the tornadoes in Joplin, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the media coverage following them made everyone more aware of the psychological aspects of disaster response and recovery. Long before, however, disaster mental health providers understood that following emergency events it’s common for individuals and families, as well as disaster responders, to experience distress or anxiety. Often people worry about safety, health, resources, and recovery. Research related to natural disasters, terrorist attacks, public health emergencies, and other threats also highlight the importance of disaster behavioral health. To find out more about what we’re doing to make sure the emotional needs of survivors and responders are met during and after a disaster, checkout our behavioral health concept of operations.