Disaster Recovery: Community-Based Psychosocial Support in the Aftermath

This new volume, Disaster Recovery: Community-Based Psychosocial Support in the ​Aftermath, provides a wealth of realistic and applicable information for addressing mental health related issues resulting from disasters. It will provide readers with both a theoretical and practical look at community-based psychosocial support and community consultation from an interdisciplinary perspective. The last thirty years have brought to the fore the importance of psychosocial support as an integrator and cross-cutting theme in disaster response. The need for a timely volume on this topic at this time is based on recent world efforts to include the topic within the disaster risk reduction framework.

In this volume, the authors share their practical knowledge about development of community-based psychosocial support based on the hundred of thousands of people in fourteen countries and three continents who provided an immense amount of knowledge about psychosocial support through their participation in programs. These programs helped to lead the way in sharing the strategies and tools presented in here.

This book uses case study methodology and practical examples to share how communities can come together, care for themselves, and use their social capital and problem-solving skills to survive and thrive. The information in the book will aid in the development of program offerings for mental health and psychosocial support in disasters and humanitarian emergencies. The final section will provide the components of a proposal for external work and a chapter on monitoring and evaluation. The book will include case studies to help illustrate the content.

Edited by Dr. Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz, a 2008 recipient of the American Psychological Association’s International Humanitarian Award, the book is based on his extensive experience and existing research in the field.

The information provided here will be helpful to those working in or teaching on disaster management and support, including professors and instructors, students in social work and psychology, government and non-government agencies personnel in the field in places where emerging conflicts are occurring, and many others.

Joseph O. Prewitt Díaz, PhD, is a practitioner scholar who has been doing field work and writing about psychosocial support in communities since 1998 in the Caribbean, the Americas, and South Asia, and has designed and implement the a community-based psychological support program in South Asia that served 732,000 people and trained over 22,000 interventors. He has authored or co-authored eight books in Spanish and English on psychosocial support and over 40 referred journal articles. His work was recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) by being awarded the International Humanitarian Award in 2008 for assisting in the design and preparation of international guidelines and standards, rapid response, training of staff, program management and implementation, and monitoring of psychosocial support on behalf of the American Red Cross (ARC) in South Asia. He served as the ARC Senior Technical Advisor for Psychosocial Support to the 2005. He is currently serving as a Psychosocial Technical Expert with the IFRC Psychosocial Support Reference Center in Copenhagen, Denmark and the IFRC Americas Region integrating psychosocial support into component the Zika epidemic response.

His previous books include Advances in Disaster Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (2007) and Disaster Mental Health in India (2004).