Our community stories come from all around Australia. They provide an insight into the experiences and issues that community members and organisations, healthcare professionals, emergency services personnel, and community workers faced during times of disaster, and the strategies they employed as they worked towards recovery.
“I use a traffic light system of checking on how staff are travelling.”
“We got to meet people who’d been badly affected by the bushfires … We learnt so much about what they’d gone through and we made some really good friendships.”
“We got to meet people who’d been badly affected by the bushfires … We learnt so much about what they’d gone through and we made some really good friendships.”
“We got to meet people who’d been badly affected by the bushfires … We learnt so much about what they’d gone through and we made some really good friendships.”
“It has been a great experience … Restoring the park … has brought about an environment where people can gather together or just come to sit on one of the new park benches to relax among the plants.”
“People’s relationships with animals is so important … Veterinarians, animal welfare workers, wildlife carers and first responders can all be deeply affected when dealing with suffering animals.”
“We heard that some of the counsellors used our book with people who’d been through the bushfires to help them deal with the trauma they had faced.”
“We lived deep in a valley with only one road in and I remember the palpable fear in the community hall when we all packed in to a briefing from the local fire service.”
The Department of Health recognised that during disaster, healthcare workers and others needed ready access to information and a range of resources that would support their work with disaster-impacted individuals and communities. In addition, the availability of more in-depth training means that workers can prepare themselves for subsequent disaster work during calmer times.
You can give feedback about the Disaster Mental Health Hub by following this link and completing the anonymous, online survey.
Access to all materials and training on the Disaster Mental Health Hub is free of charge.
The Hub is designed for workers who are supporting disaster-impacted individuals and communities. This may include GPs, specialist mental health practitioners, allied health practitioners, emergency responders, and community and recovery workers.
To access the free online training programs, simply click on the ‘Register now’ link on the training courses page.
If you’re having trouble downloading or accessing any of the resources on the Hub, please try a different browser to access the resource. If this still doesn’t work, please try restarting your computer. If you’re still having issues, you can contact Phoenix Australia here.
The Disaster Mental Health Hub is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Disaster Response – Improving Mental Health Outcomes and Promoting Recovery from Trauma Program, and has been developed in collaboration
with our partners.
The Disaster Mental Health Hub has been developed by experts in the area of disaster mental health.
We hope the information here is helpful. If there is any feedback you’d like to give, we always appreciate it.
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