Mental Health Center in Post-Disaster Recovery

Abstract

In 2000, there was a major fireworks explosion in the city of Enschede in the Netherlands. Mediant, the local mental health service, held to the philosophy that avoiding victimization and helping people to regain autonomy was its main target. Hence, Mediant was reluctant to offer psychiatric help in the first month after the disaster, because "being confused is not a psychiatric condition, but a normal reaction to such an abnormal event." Parallel processes were seen as the local authorities undertook to involve the affected population in decision-making about the restoration of the neighborhood. Emergency care after the disaster was organized by collaborating local institutions, and mental health care was given in accord with protocols applicable in 2000. A special branch of public mental health made a commitment to restore balance in the community. All these efforts, both rebuilding and mental health care, were made possible by a collective drive to manage this problem in a way that matched the affected population. The intertwining of the commitment to autonomy with sensitivity to shifting demands as the city moved through the phases of disaster manifested itself in many situations and in many layers of the recovery process. It was the foundation of the relative success of the recovery of the victimized population after the fireworks disaster.