BETTER FAMILIES
by
Jomo Phillips MSSW-MFT (Clinical Fellow AAMFT)
Couple & Family Therapist/Clinical Social Worker
When I woke up in early April to the intense smell of sulphur and saw the ash-covered windows and no view of the sun in the morning sky, I became listless, and I felt swamped. I also wondered why this ash fall now? I also wondered what was going to happen next.
The feelings I was experiencing, and many other Barbadians were, of course, also undergoing, are common and part of the course of experiencing a disaster. Though, of course, we did not share a quarter of what the people in St Vincent were facing as La Soufrière erupted, the old saying came to mind, “into every life a little rain must fall”. But what happens when there is a flood? With a ravaging pandemic, multiple lockdowns, and now this volcanic eruption, life felt completely overwhelming.
Disasters, like volcanic eruptions, are critical incidents that can overwhelm us, knocking us off our usual equilibrium. A variety of reactions often accompany our experience of being off keel.
These reactions include mild stress responses, grief reactions, mood changes, disruptions to sleep, and psychosomatic conditions like migraines, tension headaches, and gastrointestinal problems.
These reactions might also look different based on age; for example, children might become disruptive and are more prone to tantrums. Younger children dealing with such disruptions might also appear more clingy.
How can we help family members, loved ones, and colleagues when we experience the disequilibrium prompted by critical incidents like disasters? People often ask me about providing professional assistance in such situations, but hiring a professional therapist has a cost and is sometimes prohibitive. Many persons who experience a critical incident will also not need to see a therapist. They are many ways they can access support and help from their natural support networks. There is also a growing consensus that the most helpful and essential way to support people who have experienced a critical incident is to provide psychological first aid (PFA).
PFA parallels medical first aid and aims at staunching the impact of a critical incident. We can staunch the effect of the critical incident by helping provide essential support so that people’s reactions do not eventually knock them off their feet by leading to more significant psychological disorders like acute stress or post-traumatic stress disorder. The wonderful thing about PFA is it does not require us to have a professional degree. As the World Health Organisation notes, it involves people seeking to provide “Humane, supportive and practical assistance to fellow human beings who recently suffered a serious stressor.” The elements of PFA are entirely learnable and can include us doing things like providing practical care and support and engaging in supportive listening.
One of the biggest concerns of anyone affected by a critical incident like a disaster is their safety. For example, experiencing multiple volcanic ash clouds made people very concerned about things like the structural integrity of their roofs and their ability to be safe while living with respiratory conditions like asthma. Providing practical care and support can include helping people move from harm’s way and taking them away from the incident. People need to have a sense that they are safe and secure. It is crucial that as we help, we make sure that affected persons have a safe space to stay, because persons are usually hypervigilant or overwhelmed after a disaster or critical incident. We should also do things to reduce their stressors, including ensuring they can access necessities like water and food, medical care, clothing, and electrical power.
Human contact is essential when a disaster has disrupted our lives; as social creatures, human beings are exceptionally responsive to someone who listens supportively. Because the emotional and physical reactions to a disaster are often unsettling, helpers need to assure survivors that their responses are expected. Reassurance comes from compassionate listening, comforting, being gentle, and normalising and validating survivors’ responses. This human contact is potent in helping people regulate themselves when they might be overwhelmed by the experience of the critical incident.
Persons interested in serving others affected by critical incidents can access online learning and training in PFA. Several online platforms offer PFA training, including The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, the Johns Hopkins Centre for Public Health Preparedness, and there is also a pretty helpful course in PFA on Coursera.
Jomo Phillips, MSSW-MFT (Clinical Fellow AAMFT) is a Couple & Family Therapist and Clinical Social Worker ([email protected])
