Corryong residents participating in a bushfire recovery program today will learn how to provide psychological first aid and give trauma informed care to others as the community deals with the ongoing impacts of the 2019/2020 bushfires.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The sessions follow previous mental health community intervention programs as the community grapples with youth suicide and struggle to come to terms with the devastating bushfire event.
Phoenix Australia, an organisation which helps communities recover after disasters, will lead the two training sessions online, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Clinical psychologist Anita Savic, who is conducting the training, said psychological first aid was the current recommended way for supporting people after exposure to disaster events.
"We've had the bushfires, there's COVID on top of it, so the psychological first aid training really provides people with the knowledge and the skills to look after themselves and each other in their communities following these events," she said.
"The other training is called trauma informed care.
"The learning objectives there are to improve peoples capacity to identify and respond to trauma presentation.
"A lot of people might not know what trauma looks like, in this course though, we'll learn what some of these trauma symptoms are and then how to have these conversations with people who might be experiencing a traumatic event."
Ms Savic said the impact of bushfires was often so widespread in small communities that people could be working with trauma impacted people regardless of their job.
"People that aren't necessarily trained in trauma are having to deal with the impacts and so that's why we're really excited about going to the communities and giving them the skills to be able to support one another," she said.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Director of disaster and public health emergency at Phoenix Australia Alexandra Howard said up to 15 people from a variety of professional backgrounds would participate in each session.
She said the training was very important for the Corryong and surrounding community, especially as the rural town has limited access to professional support services.
"There's a lack of mental health services in a lot of these areas," she said.
"So the hope with having a lot of local people skilled in something like psychological first aid, is that they'll be able to use these skills to calm distressed people, direct them to the right services, to help them problem solve some of the practical issues they're having and hopefully make them less in need of having to go through that traditional mental health service system."
Ms Howard said that many people in bushfire affected communities around the state were still dealing with a lot of anger and frustration.
"In terms of dealing with insurance, the complications of COVID lockdowns in regional Victoria and schools opening and closing, so these are all things we think get in the way of recovery," she said.
Ms Howard said one of the keys to recovery was feeling connected to loved ones and community, but that had been hampered by the pandemic.
"We're having to get creative in these workshops," she said.
"Now we need to think about new ways to still have that sense of community and connectedness, that sense of self efficacy, but also while being socially distanced when needed.
"So that's one of the challenges that we're having to talk through with people on the ground, because it's different with different communities."
More training courses targeted at emergency services and health staff will be delivered by Phoenix Australia in Corryong and Bright next month. For more information go here.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark https://www.bordermail.com.au/
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @bordermail
- Follow us on Instagram @bordermail
- Follow us on Google News.