Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference
George W. Doherty, editor
Loving Healing Press
www.LovingHealing.com
5145 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
978-1-932690-56-9, $24.95, 2008
Title of review: Fantastic look at a sometimes overlooked aspect of emergency management – 4 stars
While natural and man-made disasters continue to garner attention from international onlookers, the emergency and disaster management community continues to look for ways to better prepare and respond to these scenarios. The United States’ federally-mandated four-pronged approach – prevent, prepare, respond, and recover – allows for a comprehensive methodology when considering what actions should be taken before, during, and after a given event. Yet much of what is categorized as ‘emergency management’ by the general public is physical – stocking supplies, having adequate shelter, and clean-up, for example. A truly all-encompassing plan includes the psychological and sociological implications of disasters. Editor George W. Doherty presents the “Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Regional Disaster Mental Health Conference” to address these important aspects of emergency and disaster management.
“Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference” contains the presented material from the November 2007 conference held in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In keeping with its theme ‘From Crisis to Recovery: Resilience and Strategic Planning for the Future’, subjects such as police suicides and traumatic stress in the workplace, psychological first aid for both responders and the communities they assist, ethical considerations, strategic planning and state-level implementation of behavioral health response, the importance of non-verbal communication and multicultural work, and special population needs are discussed throughout the text. As a graduate student in emergency and disaster management, I found the subject matter to be relevant, interesting, and applicable to the many facets of the field.
While the text reflects no discernable spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors, I found the format to be ‘uncomfortable’. The book’s size is larger than I would consider normal or typical and the font size is enormous. It seems as though most books, especially those utilized by the emergency management community, are smaller and easy to throw in a bag to read on the go. Although lightweight and in paperback format, my copy of the book quickly began showing wear and tear because of its cumbersome size.
Editor George W. Doherty’s “Proceedings of the 6th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference” is a fantastic resource for behavioral health related subjects in the emergency and disaster management field. A must have for any responder’s library!
–Reviewed by Vicki Landes, author of “Europe for the Senses – A Photographic Journal”