Citation

Kutcher SP, Chehil S, Roberts T. Rev. Panam. Salud Publica 2005; 18(4): 338-345.

Affiliation

Dalhousie University, Department of Psychiatry, International Section, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Training and Policy Development, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Organizacion Panamericana de la Salud (PAHO))

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16354431

Abstract

This paper describes a post-disaster mental health training program developed by the International Section of the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University (Halifax, Canada) and delivered in Grenada after Hurricane Ivan struck the country in September 2004. This train-the-trainer program used an integrated community health model to help local health care providers develop the necessary skills for the identification and evidenced-based treatment of mental disorders occurring after a natural disaster. The approach also provided for ongoing, sustainable mental health care delivered in the community setting, as advocated by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization. This approach is in contrast to the largely ineffective and costly vertical whole-population psychosocial counseling activities that have often been used in the Caribbean following natural disasters.