For the California residents and their families affected by the wildfires, the first responders and the second responders who will help with the clean-up,
In the latest edition of the DigIn podcast, Mark Debus, clinical manager of behavioral health at Sedgwick shares
Debus says it's important to remember that what residents are experiencing is a traumatic situation. "What we're going through right now and what the individuals on the ground are going through right now is trauma, and trauma is going to be really difficult for them. And then compound that with grief, you're looking at the effects of this that are going to be very long term probably for a lot of them."
The trauma people experience can manifest itself in a number of ways such as difficulties sleeping, gastrointestinal symptoms, anger, anxiety and even a significant startle reflex. Debus says an important aspect of helping individuals process what they've experienced and its impact on their mental health involves talking to someone about it.
"There is help available and there's a lot of help available for this," he explains. "The key thing though is to talk about it and talking about it helps normalize this and oftentimes will help relieve some symptoms if you just talk to someone about it...But the key thing is to really recognize that you're going to go through this and recognize this is a normal response to trauma."
Debus shares that some people and even young children, may try to hide what they're feeling and how it's affecting them because they may not realize that it is a very normal response to this type of situation.
"People are going to try to conceal what they're feeling. It's pretty normal. We get very protective when we're feeling overexposed, especially if you've been traumatized, hiding your feelings becomes almost a default because it's a self-protection thing. If you're experiencing the trauma, talk about it. If you're the loved one who's seeing your family member or colleague experiencing post-trauma symptoms, talk to them about it. Make sure that they know it's okay, that you are a safe person to talk about the feelings with, and the more you talk about it, the less alone that person's going to feel, and they're going to feel less stigma about talking about these things. So, you don't want to cover it up, you don't want to ignore it. You don't want to think it's going to go away on its own because it won't. Typically, trauma reactions don't get better on their own and will often have lasting effects," he adds.
He cautions against asking someone what they saw or other details of the event because that can retraumatize them. Instead, Debus advises keeping any questions either current or future focused.
Impacts to secondary responders
Even insurance adjusters and claims handlers may experience stress and secondary trauma from investigating or handling claims at this magnitude and Debus encourages them to see help for this stress. "Oftentimes, employers offer an employee assistance program, which is free and confidential. There's community mental health resources, there's the American Red Cross. There's all sorts of response services. And then one thing I just want to throw out there is a nationwide mental health crisis hotline. You can dial it from anywhere from your cell phone, landline, although who has a landline, but from your cell phone, nine, eight, eight. It's very simple to dial 988. It will connect you to a live counselor 24/7, 7 days a week."
The podcast also provides other suggestions on where to reach out for assistance, and what to look for and how to help children navigate their feelings following the wildfires, especially since their behavioral indicators will be different from those exhibited by adults.
