Crisis Response: Protect, Direct, Connect

In the wake of the most recent gun violence tragedies, I felt pulled to do some brief education around crisis and disaster mental health management. Having been in the counseling field for over 20 years, I have helped in many disaster and crisis aid. Disaster mental health is a field that has been around since the 1980’s and was created to address the specific needs of crisis or disaster survivors. It is hard to think there will be more horrific acts of violence, but until change happens we must learn some essentials so if we are needed to be helpers in crisis response we feel more equip.

Mr. Rogers, host of the popular children’s show Mister Rogers Neighborhood, famously shared a sentiment for children when they were experiencing something scary. He said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news,” Rogers said to his television neighbors, “my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” The following information will help you feel more prepared to be a helper should you be called upon. As adults it can be unnerving to be in a situation feeling powerless and unsure. This information is intended to give you a little more power in situations that feel out of control. My hope is you will never have to use it.

The following steps are for initial crisis and disaster response. These three steps apply to most traumatic situations from a car crash to a fire to a shooting.

Protect

If you are ever in a situation where you are witnessing a traumatic event, the first step is protection. The initial goal is to do whatever is needed to make sure no more damage is done. While this may seem obvious, it is important to keep in mind people go into shock in the face of danger and trauma. When we are meet with danger or when threatened, our thinking brain goes “off-line” and our subcortical brain, the more primal part of our brain, takes over. This can often look like shock or freezing, which is why having a helper nearby is so vital to make sure more damage isn’t done. The less traumatic stimuli survivors experience the better. Reduce exposure to more visual, auditory, and sensory overwhelm. The calmer and quieter a setting the better after exposure to trauma.

Direct

Building on the idea of the brain being “off-line,” people who have just experienced a crisis need direction. This needs to be handled with a gentle tone, but often survivors need to be kindly coached to drink water and breathe. Many of these steps seem obvious, but to a survivor of trauma, they are stuck in what just happened. They can easily forget even the most evident course of action.

Connect

This stage is also referred to as “support.” Once you have created safety for a survivor then you can proceed to empathetically connect and support them emotionally. This will take many different forms. Sometimes it is listening to their recounting of the trauma or helping them make connection to loved ones. It may look like finding them additional services. The key in this stage is creating a relationship with the survivor that is non-judgmental and safe.   

This introduction to some basic disaster mental health steps is cursory, but if you can hold on to the idea of “Protect, Direct, Connect,” it may make you feel more prepared should you be involved in a traumatic event.

*The construct “Protect, Direct, Connect” was developed by Diane Myers, unpublished manuscript.