Essentials of Church Disaster Preparedness and Response

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Essentials of Church Disaster Preparedness and
Response

• Jamie D. Aten, Sharon Topping,
• Ryan Denney
• University of Southern Mississippi

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Support Provided by

• The Church Disaster Mental Health Project is
  funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts
  and Rand Gulf States Policy Institute.
• This research was funded by the Department of
  Health and Human Services' Office of Minority
  Health through a grant from the University of
  Mississippi Medical Center's Mississippi
  Institute for Improvement of Geographic Minority
  Health whose quest is to eliminate health
  disparities.
• The Clergy/Mental Health Partnership is funded
  by the Red Cross Resilency Fund and Foundation
  for the MidSouth in collaboration with the
  Interfaith Disaster Task Force.
• The Clergy Disaster Response Network is funded
  by the United Jewish Communities Foundation in
  collaboration with the Interfaith Disaster Task
  Force.
• The findings, opinions and recommendations
  expressed therein are those of the author and not
  necessarily those of the funding agencies.

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Introduction to Faith Communities and Disasters

• Integral to spiritual, sociopolitical, economic,
  and psychological disaster recovery
• Are often used as a source of coping during
  distressful times
• Can offer meaning, resources, hope, and emotional
  support after a disaster
• Clergy report being overwhelmed by needs
  following disasters
• Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina

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Purpose

• The purpose of this seminar presentation is to
  help prepare mental health professionals to
  collaborate with clergy and church leaders to
  equip churches and faith communities for
  disasters.

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Disaster Response Phases
(Adapted from Zunin/Meyers)
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Equipping Churches for Disaster Preparedness
Response

• How to get started
• Identify a local disaster response coordinator
  from your congregation
• Develop a disaster ministry leadership team
• Complete preparedness and response inventories
  and plans
• Begin educating and equipping volunteers

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Church Disaster Preparedness

• Identify assumptions about disasters
• Network with disaster agencies
• Define church disaster mission
• Obtain detailed building description
• Inventory emergency supplies and safety measures
• Create communication plan
• Ensure appropriate evacuation plan
• Encourage personal disaster planning
• Identify vulnerable individuals and groups
• Establish recovery/service continuity plan
• Make plan for attending to community/neighborhood
  
• Protect and insure properties
• Consider seeking charity status/non-profit status

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Disaster Preparedness for Church Members

• Encourage congregation members to
• Make a Go-Bag (see www.nyc.gov/oem)
• Decide upon a post-disaster meeting place
• Make special needs known
• Develop a post-disaster communication plan
• Obtain proper insurance
• Set aside emergency fund
• Create an evacuation plan
• Create a family disaster preparedness plan

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Family Disaster Preparedness Planning

• Sample components
• Essentials (e.g., battery-operated radio,
  flashlight)
• Water (3 gallon per person minimum plus water for
  sanitation)
• Three-day supply of non-perishable food
• First Aid Kit
• Non-prescription and prescription drugs
• Tools and supplies (paper to chainsaw)
• Sanitation supplies
• Clothing (e.g., rain gear) and sleeping bag
• Baby supplies if needed (e.g., formula, diapers)
• Important family documents
• Entertainment (e.g., books or toys for children)

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Church Evacuation Planning

• Identify emergency exits and procedures
• Post contact information for emergency numbers
  and contact persons
• Identify at least two alternate locations for
  services (one in and one out of your
  neighborhood)
• Use church communication structures to convey
  evacuations (e.g., prayer chain)
• Inform your congregation and community about your
  evacuation plan (make it visible)

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Church Continuity of Operations Planning

• Conduct a risk assessment (e.g., What are the
  churches vulnerabilities?)
• Plan for utility disruptions
• Know what staff, materials, and equipment are
  essential to maintain operations
• Identify church programs and outreach ministries
  that could be utilized after disasters
• Prioritize post-disaster programs
• Take inventory of losses post-disaster
• Consider applying for post-disaster grants

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Possible Post-Disaster Church Roles

• Help community make meaning of their disaster
  experience
• Provide advocacy (e.g., People before Ports)
• Case management services
• Raise awareness about disaster mental health
• Participate in rebuilding housing projects
• Provide emotional support and pastoral care
• Become liaison and referral source
• Use church facilities as a resource center

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Possible Post-Disaster Church Facilities Uses

• Bulk distribution center (e.g., food, clothing)
• Child care center
• Communication center
• Information center (e.g., Health Fairs)
• Shelter (pre-and-post disaster)
• Gathering point
• Volunteer headquarters
• Food ministry (e.g., soup kitchen, meals on
  wheels, Angel food ministry)
• Command center
• Town hall meeting place
• Social services center

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Possibilities for Clergy-Mental Health
Professional Disaster Collaboration

• Develop educational and outreach opportunities
• Effects of disaster on mental health
• Referral guidelines
• Overcoming perceived stigma
• You train the pastors, we train the
  congregation, and the congregation trains the
  community

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Possibilities for Clergy-Mental Health
Professional Disaster Collaboration

• Lead mental health assessments
• Identification of disaster related mental health
  problems
• Use focus groups of church leaders
• Brief instruments for congregational assessments
• To be honest, I dont even know what mental
  health needs existed in my church after Katrina
• Was this psychological symptoms sort term? Was
  it going to be long term? It was hard to tell
  after Katrina.

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Possibilities for Clergy-Mental Health
Professional Disaster Collaboration

• Offer consultation activities
• Pre-disaster planning
• Post-disaster planning
• Process of planning and content
• If you dont have a plan, you dont have
  actions, and you know what that ends up looking
  likeit just aint good.

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Possibilities for Clergy-Mental Health
Professional Disaster Collaboration

• Provide clinically-focused services
• Crisis counseling services post Katrina
  (short-term, solution focused one-on-one therapy)
• Sensitive to spiritual multicultural issues
• Knowledge of inpatient treatment programs
• Is that person going to be okay I would think to
  myselfI just did the best I could, thats what
  we all did, thats what we had to doI know we
  had folks that needed like serious clinical
  care.

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Possibilities for Clergy-Mental Health
Professional Disaster Collaboration

• Provide spiritual resources and support system
  through the church
• Church as referral source to meet spiritual needs
• Church as a source of social support and outreach
• Formalized partnership with mental health
  professionals to provide spiritual direction and
  pastoral care to members and those in need
• You see this? pointing to a picture This
  elderly lady had nothing after Katrina, no one to
  help her, but our church not only built her a new
  house, we have a ministry of good folks that go
  and check on her every week, just to see how she
  is doing.

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Examples of Church-Mental Health Disaster
Collaboration

• Church Disaster Mental Health Project
• Provides in-person disaster mental health
  training and outreach to clergy and churches
• Offers consultation services to equip faith
  communities for disasters
• Provides online disaster mental health training
  and resources (www.churchdisasterhelp.org)
• Emphasis on reaching African American churches

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Examples of Church-Mental Health Disaster
Collaboration

• Clergy/Mental Health Partnership
• Organizing Mental Health Summit with mental
  health, pastoral care, and mental health-pastoral
  care collaboration tracks
• Networking religious leaders and mental health
  providers to facilitate appropriate
  bi-directional assessment, services, and referral
• Providing mental health training for religious
  leaders and spiritual sensitivity training for
  mental health providers
• Offering emotional support/resiliency programs
  for religious leaders

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Examples of Church-Mental Health Disaster
Collaboration

• Disaster Clergy Response Network
• Providing disaster first responder training and
  creditial to clergy
• Developing ethical codes, application process,
  and requirements for disaster clergy credential
• Working with MS Departments of Mental Health and
  Health to integrate credentialed clergy into the
  state disaster response plan
• Identifying regional coordinators and dispatch
  system

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Conclusion

• Successful disaster preparedness and response
  begins with planning
• Mental health professionals have unique skills
  for helping churches respond to disasters
• Additional training and research is needed around
  disaster collaboration issues
• Questions and comments