It has been over a decade since the formal foundations of the field of disaster mental health were constructed, and over three years since the terrorist attacks of September 11th. At this point sufficient experience, as well as temporal and emotional distance, have been gained so as to reflect upon the "lessons learned" in disaster mental health. The purpose of this conference is to provide those in attendance with a unique "lessons learned" approach to the practice of disaster mental health from a collection of speakers uniquely qualified to reflect back and to look forward.
At the end of the "Disaster Mental Health: Lessons Learned Update, the participant will be able to:
-Define terrorism
-Describe the term "warfare by attrition"
-Discuss populations at risk for pathological reactions
-Identify effective outreach-oriented risk communication
-Define psychological contagion
-Apply the construct of psychological contagion in disaster planning and preparation
-Describe the importance of the integration of disaster mental health, public health and human services
-Discuss the activities of a Mental Health Community Response Coalition
-Summarize the factors that contribute to understanding that the psychosocial factors are the most significant human impact in disasters