What is Psychological First Aid
- A supportive intervention for use in the immediate aftermath of a disaster/accident
- Intervention strategies are intended for use with managers, crews, media, families and spectators
- Can also be provided to first responders and relief workers
Who provides Psychological First Aid
- Peer supporters trained to respond as part of the organized incident response effort
- May also be provided by medical or/and mental health personnel
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD may develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event, and not provided with sufficient psychological first aid.
The diagnosis may be given when a group of symptoms continue for more than a month after the occurrence of a traumatic event.
Peer Support
Peer support programmes have emerged as standard practice in high risk environments. This includes all Emergency Service providers, police, military and larger organisations where employees and volunteers are exposed to occupational health risks.
Peer support programmes offer wellbeing monitoring and individual management, whilst capitalising on the ability to deliver resilience and stress management to a workforce.
Armed with resilience and support, workers and volunteers are likely to remain fit for work for longer, in a far healthier state and be more productive.
Traumatic Incident
A traumatic incidents is an unusually challenging event that has the potential to create significant human distress and can overwhelm one’s usual coping mechanisms.
Examples could include witnessing the effect of a natural disaster or terrorist attack, or through being the victim of an assault.
Psychological First Aid
The purpose of Psychological First Aid is to provide psychological support following a traumatic incident.
It aims to reduce stress symptoms and assist in a healthy recovery following a traumatic incident.
Examples from Motorsport
Let us review famous examples from the world of motorsport of incidents that may have required Psychological First Aid…