The fields of victim advocacy and mental health have long been familiar with individual crisis intervention and individual trauma. As described by Kai Erickson (In the Wake of A Flood, 1979), an individual trauma is a "blow to the psyche that breaks through one’s defenses so suddenly and with such force that one cannot respond effectively." What is newer to both fields is community crisis intervention and collective trauma. Erickson differentiates a collective trauma as a "blow to the tissues of social life that damages the bonds attaching people together."

In the early 1980's NOVA began the process of evaluating the impact of collective trauma on communities. As with individuals, NOVA quickly learned that whole communities suffer trauma in the aftermath of disasters or especially gruesome crimes. The community may experience a sort of paralysis immediately following the incident. Almost everyone is in shock, yet each individual is soon likely to react with a different set of emotions, which may include sadness, anger, fear, helplessness or euphoria. The result of those evaluations was the development of a skeletal plan for a crisis response team (CRT). The goal of the CRT would be to address the needs of the community as a whole, not just the individual.

On August 20, 1986, the first NOVA CRT was deployed to Edmond, Oklahoma, where a postal worker killed 14 CRT 9/11 coworkers and himself. Using the skeletal plan devised years before, NOVA responded within twenty-four hours with a team of seven experienced crisis interveners. It was that response that was the genesis of NOVA’s existing National Crisis Response Team, which has responded to hundreds of domestic and international communities since 1986.

A lot has been learned since the deployment of the Edmond team. Often caregivers in the community where disaster strikes, though wanting to help in the crisis, may themselves be affected by a sense of shock. They may also be unsure of what to do, since few are trained in using their helping skills in catastrophic situations. Organizing a plan of action may be difficult in the confusion of the moment.

For these reasons, it often helps to have outsiders come for a short period of time to offer CRT information and suggestions on how to mobilize a program of responding to the community’s distress. That is the mission of the CRT – to serve as consultants to the leaders and caregivers of a community in severe distress.

A CRT consists of service professionals from all over the country, typically including mental health specialists, victim advocates, public safety professionals, and members of the clergy, among others. The team for reach disaster is formed in consideration of that particular community’s demographics. All team members are volunteers with only their travel and lodging expenses covered by the local community or from donations to NOVA. NOVA will seek to send a crisis response team, if possible, to any community in crisis within twenty-four hours of a request.

There are three primary tasks the team performs:

For more information on NOVA’s National Crisis Response Team, please call NOVA at (703) 535-NOVA. Victims or communities wanting assistance may call (800) TRY-NOVA (879-6682) at any time for information and emotional support.

More CRT Information: