Abstract
In August 2003, an international expert panel was convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Bethesda, Maryland, to discuss outreach and intervention for behavioral health needs following disasters and mass violence. This document is the outgrowth of a paper prepared by the working group on individual interventions that was formed at the roundtable. In this document, we discuss basic considerations regarding individual post-disaster interventions and outreach strategies. We then provide brief overviews of the research base and recommendations concerning interventions for different time periods in the aftermath of mass violence or disaster.
