|
Traumatic Stress Levels? – Canadian Team Helps Out
Emergency personnel, fire fighters, police officers, doctors and other medical health workers are trained to deal with trauma on a daily basis, but they too need help to cope with stress. Regardless of experience or personality, everyone has a threshold beyond which he/she will experience traumatic stress. A five-person team from the Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) reinforced this message for Cayman’s health care professionals at a clinical skills training workshop—The Management of Post Disaster Emotional Reactions—on 7 and 8 March. The workshop, part of the Ministry of Health Services’ celebration of Mental Health Week, brought together a wide range of health care professionals from the public and private sectors, including prison officers, health and mental health workers, teachers, counsellors, heads of government departments and church representatives. Focusing on responding to crises, crisis intervention, the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and self-care for workers, the workshop encouraged health care professionals to be aware of the personal impact their work might have. Health care workers should also recognize their own limits in dealing with trauma and disasters, rather that experiencing guilt when they feel they cannot cope. Common disaster-worker stress reactions include a loss of a sense of purpose, a lack of self-satisfaction, and a loss of professional spirit or motivation at work. Knowing how to identify these symptoms as well as being aware of vulnerability help health workers cope with stress when it arises. The workshop was presented by Mr. Akwatu Khenti, director of the CAMH mental health programmes and a specialist in substance abuse; Dr. Branca Agic, trauma specialist, children and families specialist, and developer of parent and teacher response programmes; Dr. Graham Vardy, leader for critical incident stress debriefing and a crisis intervention specialist; Mr. Michael Taylor, provider of spiritual counselling; Dr. Barbara Dorian, trauma psychiatrist and head of Women’s programme at CAMH. “The Canadian team brought a wealth of skills and different perspectives to our health care professionals and in providing this workshop, the ministry showed its support to our frontline staff who cope with the aftermath of Ivan daily,” said locally-based clinical psychologist and project manager for the Ministry of Health, Dr. Karen Dunbar. Tips on Managing Stress After a Disaster:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
