From November 2001 NASW NEWS
Copyright ©2001, National Association of Social Workers, Inc.

Disaster Work Not for Everyone

Weaver, himself a disaster volunteer for the Red Cross, says mass-casualty relief work is not for everyone. For some volunteers, even routine disaster assignments are too stressful. "Think seriously about whether or not you need this amount of stress in your life right now, or if you ever need it," Weaver cautions.

Weaver knows the stresses first-hand from work in local and national disasters. He has written a book on the subject: Disasters: Mental Health Interventions, and has a comprehensive Web site on the subject, http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/johndweaver/. In September, he directed the Red Cross's assistance center for families of those lost in the terrorist-downed airplane in Pennsylvania.

Important factors in determining how mental health professionals will withstand stress are: previous trauma experiences and stress inoculation; gradation of exposure; identification with the victim — reactions like, "That could have been my child" — and survivor guilt; their own physical and psychological health status; and amount of "routine" stresses like work and family.

Weaver has a list of strategies for improving coping while working at a disaster site. Among them:

• Pre-briefing is essential to understand the magnitude and gory details.
• Tasks at hand should be the immediate and central focus, with the work broken up and small jobs done first.
• Self stress management is critical.
• Routines and rest periods must be established and maintained.
• Reality of the workload must be respected, with realistic personal and organizational objectives.
• Peer support is critically important, and the buddy system is helpful for sharing tough cases and telling stories and venting.
• Trust in the most basic forms of self-care: eating well, regular sleeping and listening to inner voices that say it's time for a break.
• Down time can be negative if there is an escape to hectic entertainment or a premature return to the relief setting and role.

Defusing and debriefing help prevent long-term negative outcomes that could lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, said Weaver.

Defusing, the term for talking it out, lets workers ventilate about their disaster-related memories, stresses, losses and methods of coping in a safe and supportive environment. Others simply need to be present, listen and offer support, he said.

Debriefing is a formal meeting, done individually or in small groups, held shortly after the incident to deal with the emotional residuals of the event. The Red Cross requires everyone in mass-casualty situations to participate in such sessions.

While there are caveats about disaster work, Weaver said that one brief tour as a Red Cross volunteer is enough to get social workers "hooked."

"Relief work has rekindled the kind of helping spirit among many disaster mental health workers that they haven't felt since shortly after graduate school," he said. "No other moments in my career have come close to providing me the personal and professional rewards that I have experienced as a Red Cross volunteer."

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