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Developing a Comprehensive Trauma- and Resiliency- Focused Program After Superstorm Sandy in New York City

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Maria Scigliano ,
Virginia Roncaglione  and
Paula A. Madrid
Maria Scigliano*
Affiliation:
Children’s Health Fund, Medical Affairs, New York, New York
Virginia Roncaglione
Affiliation:
Children’s Health Fund, Medical Affairs, New York, New York
Paula A. Madrid
Affiliation:
Children’s Health Fund, Medical Affairs, New York, New York
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Maria Scigliano, Children’s Health Fund, Medical Affairs, New York, NY, 10027-4472 (e-mail: mariacscigliano@gmail.com).
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Abstract

To contribute to the ongoing discourse about successful programming supporting intermediate behavioral and mental health needs of vulnerable communities affected by disaster, this article presents the Children’s Health Fund (CHF) Sandy Recovery and Resiliency Program as a descriptive case study for a multifaceted, community-based approach to building resiliency, coping, and socioemotional skills in an underserved community in New York City that was affected by Superstorm Sandy. The case study involves retrospective review and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data that were collected as part of routine care and program implementation. From the analysis emerged a program consisting of 3 components: (1) delivery of workshops and community events to decrease stigma and build community-wide resilience, (2) delivery of workshops for students and educators in the local school to increase coping skills as well as referrals to clinical mental health care, and (3) provision of mental health care via a mobile mental health clinic. As a result, we found that following periods of excessive trauma, children and families require a broad-based approach to mental health support. Additionally, the use of the mobile clinic abated most common access barriers and served as a proxy of the concern of the organization for the community. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 5)

Keywords

resiliencepsychologicalcommunity mental health servicesdisasters
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , June 2019 , pp. 613 - 617
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 

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