The Expert’s Guide to Restoring Families & Communities after Disaster

We’ve all dealt with disasters. Whether it's an important day going terribly wrong, or a pandemic like COVID-19, we face various disasters throughout our lives, sometimes at no fault of our own. For example, as a nation we recently endured the catastrophe of Hurricane Melissa. Much work has been done to restore homes, crops, roads and businesses but equally important is rehabilitating the people. 

So, how can we provide long-term support for families who were affected? We had a conversation with Dr. Chelece-Atavia Brown, Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) to answer this question and she believes, alongside material relief, “we must invest in rebuilding emotional infrastructure…”.

Dr. Chelece-Atavia Brown, Founder of Restored Hope Counseling Centre and Restored Hope: Caribbean Mental Health Summit.

Dr. Brown gave some proven solutions to achieve this:

• Psychological First Aid (PFA). This is a strategy to reduce stress symptoms such as hypervigilance, anxiety, grief, irritability, numbness, and difficulty concentrating, in persons who’ve experienced a traumatic event, empowering them to overcome its impact.

• Rapid Access to Accurate Information. Misinformation can prolong symptoms of stress and lead to poor decision-making.

• Safe Spaces for Children. Two main effects of a hurricane are a lost sense of safety and collapsed routines which are both integral to children. “Safe spaces” recreate routine and reintroduce normalcy in an attempt to limit the disruption to development. The Children First Agency (CFA) and UNICEF through its joint trauma response efforts have established thirteen Child-Friendly Spaces across the parishes of St. Elizabeth, St. James, and Manchester which have served almost 6,000 children through structured play, and group lessons on subjects like emotional regulation and coping with loss.

• Community-based Support Groups. Non-Governmental Organisations like the CFA, and Food for the Poor, as well as Government programmes like the Social Development Commission (SDC) and National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), among others can be valuable spaces for support following a disaster.

• Culturally Responsive Counseling Services. Consistent and available therapy can positively impact the restoration process following disaster. Local entities such as the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ Mental Health Unit or the Jamaica Psychological Association offer aid to the public.

• Spiritual Support. Many churches have family and counselling programmes, targeted ministries, charity arms, fellowship meetings or prayer gatherings - providing a community for well-needed camaraderie, stress relief and faith building. 

• Training caregivers to recognize trauma symptoms. Persons who have experienced loss through natural disasters typically deal with mental distress. In Dr Brown’s experience this often presents as emotional numbness, grief, sadness and irritability. Regardless of the responsibility parents have to their children, these effects must be given attention. As such, parental empowerment is a vital part of the CFA's and UNICEF’s Mental Health and Psychosocial (MHPSS) response. The project has reached 947 caregivers to date, through parenting sessions and other efforts. This was integrated with the understanding that effective parenting is key to the wellbeing and development of the child.

• Ongoing Monitoring. As said by Dr. Brown, “in Jamaica and across the Caribbean, hurricanes are not just environmental events, they are psychosocial events that reshape how communities experience safety, stability, and hope”. Trauma recovery after a major disaster therefore needs to be a long-term effort.

If you are a parent, caregiver, friend, community leader, or you’ve been affected yourself, these and other strategies are useful for informing and validating the nervous system and will ultimately reintroduce routine and a sense of control. However, it won’t happen suddenly. Dr Brown is encouraging you to be emotionally steady, and attentive, and not to forget your own mental needs. Rest is not selfish; it is strategic.

If you need further assistance, you may contact the Children First Agency at info@childrenfirstja.org, 876-669-3285/876-869-0666 or UNICEF at kingston@unicef.org, 876-618-0167.