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Psychological support and recovery in the aftermath of natural disaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Forbes
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia, email dforbes@unimelb.edu.au
Mark Creamer
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia, email dforbes@unimelb.edu.au
Darryl Wade
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia, email dforbes@unimelb.edu.au
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Natural disasters can result in a range of mental health outcomes among the affected population. Appropriate mental health interventions are required to promote recovery. In the aftermath of the 2009 bushfires in Victoria, Australia, a collaboration of trauma experts, the Australian and Victorian state governments and health professional associations developed an evidence-informed three-level framework outlining recommended levels of care. The framework was underpinned by an education and training agenda for mental health professionals. This framework has been successfully applied after further natural disasters in Australia. This paper outlines the steps included in each of the levels.

Type
Research papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2012

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