Our Work: Disaster Mental Health
Since its establishment in 1987, the Center has helped shape the landscape of disaster mental health. Disaster mental health examines the impact and implications of individual, community and organizational responses to traumatic events from natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and the tsunami, to human made disasters such as the Gulf Oil Spill and terrorist events such as the Washington DC sniper attacks. Through research, education and consultation, the Center has been involved in nearly every major disaster our nation has faced in the past 25 years.
The Center is currently engaged in several important projects that address the psychological health and resilience of first responders and the role of collective efficacy in communities (i.e., conditions/resources within a group that lead to a shared vision and the capacity to produce effects for its members) in disaster response and recovery.
The Center also features the Disaster and Preventive Psychiatry (D&PP) Fellowship. This 2 year fellowship (open to military medical personnel) a year in the Uniformed Services University M.P.H. program. The second year is spent with the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, in which the fellow continues to develop interests formulated in the first year.