Personal crisis: On February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred when 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, part of the Miami metropolitan area, Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people and injuring 18 others.
Purpose
1. To apply principles of community trauma/crisis/disaster assessment in your local community
2. To consider ground-level interventions that a PMHNP can apply in a community emergency/disaster situation
Instructions
1. Select a recent crisis/disaster event that occurred in your local area. Briefly describe the event.
- The event should be a DSM type of traumatic event that occurred in your local community. This could include, but is not limited to: natural disasters, mass shootings, terrorist attacks, or the death of a local figure that was traumatic to the community (example: murder of J.F.K. would be ok b/c threat to the nation, fear of more attacks, etc. Death of Elvis Presley not ok – upsetting and personally devastating, yes. Traumatic, no.)
- Remember that just because something is really difficult does not automatically make it a trauma. Adverse life events are not the same as trauma.
- The event must have occurred in your local community and in your lifetime where you were old enough to witness the impact that the event had on the community. If you cannot think of something from your town, move up to something in the next biggest town or something in your state.
2. Use the following questions to reflect on the event:
Reaction – What was the community reaction to the event? Or, did you see strong reactions in individuals?
Source – What was the source of that reaction? Why was it so difficult? – The source of the reaction is often the emotions that are underlying. Are they acting out of fear or rage? Are they caring for the individuals that were harmed because the community is so close and full of love?
Implications – What did this mean for the individual or the community? How was the community changed by this event? What were the outcomes of this event?
3. Let’s say that you were a PMHNP at the time that this event occurred. Develop a plan for intervention. As a PMHNP, what could you do to positively affect this situation, at the individual and community level?
- Your plan should include ground-level interventions that the PMHNP could perform in the weeks following the traumatic event. Will you offer therapy or support groups? Education? Is there a specific program that you would start to relieve the immediate needs following the event? Volunteer with disaster relief?
- Use the disaster response resources in the module for some initial ideas, but you can expand beyond this if appropriate for your scenario.
- This is NOT a work on social issues or policy change. Although these are important issues, the purpose of this work is to focus on the immediate needs after a crisis or disaster. Your plan should not be about advocating for policy change. We’re looking for ground-level interventions that you can do immediately.
4. Total assignment should be minimum 2 pgs in essy style with APA format. Cite references as needed, but not required.