{"id":40447,"date":"2019-08-31T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=40447"},"modified":"2019-08-30T09:52:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T16:52:40","slug":"how-to-give-psychological-first-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/how-to-give-psychological-first-aid-0831197","title":{"rendered":"How to Give Psychological First Aid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-40448 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/How-to-Give-Psychological-First-Aid.png\" alt=\"How to Give Psychological First Aid\" width=\"1000\" height=\"2200\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/How-to-Give-Psychological-First-Aid.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/How-to-Give-Psychological-First-Aid-300x660.png 300w, https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/How-to-Give-Psychological-First-Aid-800x1760.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Infographic Text: How to Give Psychological First Aid<\/h2>\n<p>After a natural disaster or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/psychpedia\/terrorism\">terrorist attack<\/a>, there are likely going to be many people in distress. If you want to give <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/learn-about-therapy\/types\/critical-incident-stress-management\">emergency psychological support<\/a> to survivors, remember to ASSIST:<\/p>\n<h3>Approach the individual.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Introduce yourself and state any organization you might be affiliated with.<\/li>\n<li>Be polite and professional\u2014remember to say please and thank you.<\/li>\n<li>Find a safe, private place to talk if possible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Stabilize their emotions.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Communicate in a calm, warm tone. The person might be in shock, so you may need to repeat yourself at times.<\/li>\n<li>Offer to guide them through some grounding exercises, such as taking slow, deep breaths.<\/li>\n<li>Ask for permission before you hug or touch them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Serve their needs.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask the person what they need. Don&#8217;t assume what their priorities are.<\/li>\n<li>If they don&#8217;t know what they need, offer practical support, such as a blanket or water.<\/li>\n<li>Help them find any missing family members or friends.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Inform them of the facts.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Give them concrete information about the incident and any relief efforts under way.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t make false promises. Avoid generalizations such as \u201ceverything will be okay.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Be honest if you don\u2019t know the answer to a question.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Support their story.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Respect the person\u2019s privacy. Don\u2019t pressure them into recounting their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/psychpedia\/trauma\">trauma<\/a> or sharing personal details.<\/li>\n<li>Allow the person to assign whatever spiritual or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/learn-about-therapy\/issues\/religious-issues\">religious meaning<\/a> they wish toward the crisis.<\/li>\n<li>Let them cry or go silent if they need to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Turn them toward further services.<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Direct survivors to the nearest relief station. Do not force them if they are not ready to move yet.<\/li>\n<li>Give them written contact information for long-term services, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/find-therapist.html\">trauma counseling<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Remember children may need extra direction and care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>About PFA. (n.d.). The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Retrieved from https:\/\/bit.ly\/2pY5z51<\/li>\n<li><em>Psychological first aid for first responders<\/em> [PDF]. (n.d.). SAMHSA. Retrieved from https:\/\/bit.ly\/2NKy0Bb<\/li>\n<li>Snider, L., van Ommeren, M. &amp; Schafer, A. (n.d.). Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers. Retrieved from https:\/\/bit.ly\/2ZzKmSP<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psychological first aid allows non-professionals to provide comfort and practical support to survivors after a crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[542,623],"tags":[281,431,1482,798,856],"class_list":["post-40447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-articles","category-issues-treated","tag-critical-incident-stress-management","tag-emotional-overwhelm","tag-natural-disaster","tag-terrorism","tag-trauma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}