Psychosocial
Psychosocial
The establishment of the Psychosocial SIG was approved by the WADEM Board of Directors in March 2012. Any WADEM member in good standing with expertise or interest in the psychosocial aspects of disasters is eligible to join the special interest group.
SIG members are strongly encouraged to send any psychosocial documents developed by your regional/national groups for inclusion on the links below.
SIG Newsletters
Read the recent Psychosocial SIG Newsletters.
MIssion & Vision
Mission: To pursue didactic, research, policy, and operational excellence in international disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, including the prevention and mitigation of psychosocial stress and the promotion of resilience.
Vision: To enhance the role of disaster mental health specialists in responding to and providing support across the different phases of a disaster.
Objectives
The objectives of the Psychosocial SIG are to:
- Promote the learning and understanding of disaster mental health at the individual and community level;
- Disseminate throughout the international disaster-related community empirically derived "best practices" and "lessons learned" by means of workshops and conference presentations as well as web-based materials;
- Increase the presence and activities of disaster mental health specialists in disaster preparedness and response through their inclusion in existing and newly developed response networks;
- Strengthen the research as well as the intervention skills of disaster mental health specialists through enhanced academic courses and practical training;
- Promote greater involvement in national and international committees while identified as a WADEM representative in the field of psychosocial disaster care;
- Coordinate international collaboration in research and in creative care approaches among psychosocial section members worldwide;
- Develop tools for measurement of psychosocial aspects of emergencies and disasters in a standardized and internationally accepted manner.
Officers
For further information regarding SIG, or for initiation of activities, please contact the co-chairs:
Erin Smith, PhD, MPH
Co-ChairAustralia
Dr. Erin Smith has extensive experience teaching and researching within the multidisciplinary fields of prehospital and disaster health. Dr Smith’s PhD research conducted through the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University explored paramedic perception of risk and willingness to work during disasters. This research involved conducting interviews and focus groups with nearly 100 paramedics in Australia, New York, and London.
Most recently, Dr. Smith has completed a fifteen-year follow up of medics who responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. This research involved interviewing 54 medics at five-year milestones following the attacks exploring the long-term physical and psychosocial health impacts on the medics. Dr. Smith is widely published in both the prehospital and disaster health literature and has presented her research at many national and international conferences where she has been an invited presenter and a best-presentation award winner.