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Training Social Work Students through Disaster Work Patricia A. Findley, DrPH, MSW, LCSW Sandra Moroso, MA

National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health

December 18, 2013

1:00 pm ET

#DisasterLearning @NCDMPH

NCDMPH Disclaimer

• The views expressed in this presentation are solely those of the presenter and do not reflect the views of the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science, and the US Department of Defense

Crisis Strikes

• Super Storm Sandy hit New Jersey and New York late in October 2012

• Although few died in this disaster, the immediate and ongoing effects of the storm impacted the environment and well as the mental and physical health of uncountable thousands of people

– $68 billion worth of damage overall

Social Workers During Crisis

• It was recognized that the mental and behavioral health of the residents of New Jersey needed immediate and ongoing attention

• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey’s Graduate School of Social Work responded

– Was awarded a Robin Hood Foundation grant

– Goal was to mobilize graduate social work students to provide behavioral health and case management services to the storm survivors, while the students continued to meet the requirements of the Masters in Social Work program

Graduate Social Work Education

• Governed by the Council on Social Work Education

• Generally a 2 year program of academic courses with a requirement

– 2 years of professional foundation and advanced field education (i.e. internships)

– Students direct their focus to a clinical or a non profit management track

Social Work Curriculum

Professional Foundation

Social Work Curriculum

Advanced Program

Supplementary Training

• Students were provided a self-paced training under the supervision of a faculty member with expertise in disaster response and trauma.

• Training included online FEMA courses and readings from

– Halpern J, Tramontin M. (2007). Disaster mental health: theory and practice. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole—Thomson Learning.

General Disaster Training

Required FEMA trainings taken independently and online: • IS-100.b Introduction to Incident Command

System, ICS-100 (3 hours) • IS-200.b ICS for Single Resources and Initial

Action Incidents (3 hours) • IS-700.a National Incident Management System

(NIMS) Introduction (3 hours) • IS-321 Hurricane Mitigation Basics for

Mitigation Staff (1 hour)

Focused Non Profit Management Training

• IS-244.a Developing and Managing Volunteers (10 hours)

Disaster Training

• Students are to complete these courses, take the accompanying exam, then print the certificate issued at the end of successful completion

– Further FEMA courses were strongly recommended

• Finally, in cooperation with Field, a journal entry was to be made to allow the students the opportunity to reflect on the material presented in preparation for their disaster-related work

Deployment into the Field

• “Disaster Fellows” were matched with social service agencies in the impacted counties of New Jersey

– Their work in the field fit the mission of the agencies where placed with a focus on disaster recovery and behavioral health counseling

– Matched with a licensed social worker (LSW) or licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) who was required to meet with the students weekly for 1 hour for supervision

– An external field liaison oversaw the work in the field and the supervision provided by the LSW/LCSW

Training

• Students were in the field from January until April 2013

• A debriefing group was held to transition the transition the students out of their placements

Clinical Findings

Faculty Findings

• Great “real world” placements

• Required some closer supervision than other placements

– Required additional resources

• Create full blown graduate course in Disaster Response and Management

Questions?