Application: Responding Organizations

The Stafford Act specifically points to national agencies' involvement in crisis responding. These agencies include the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army along with others.

The National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) is one of the oldest crisis response agencies; it was originally established to aid crime victims.

Professionals at responding organizations have a number of intervention models available to them. Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) is a model that has been subject to some criticism because the usefulness of a debriefing or a reliving of a crisis is not always appropriate or helpful.

More recently, Psychological First Aid was developed by the National Center for PTSD and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network as an evidence-informed modular approach for intervening with children, adolescents, adults, and families in the immediate aftermath of disaster and terrorism.

In this Application Assignment, you explore both responding organizations and the crisis intervention models they employ.

To prepare for this assignment

Review Chapters 13 and 17 in your course text, Crisis Intervention Strategies, and focus on which types of agencies or organizations would be helpful during a disaster/crisis.

Review the article, "Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended, and Related Authorities," paying particular attention to the sections describing response teams and relief organizations.