King Et Al Response To Discussion Board Answered
First student (Othaimeen)
1. What kinds of temperaments, character traits, and skills seem necessary?
Working in a disaster mental health response unit is fulfilling, but not everyone has the skills and characteristics to succeed in this career. A qualitatively effective disaster mental health responder should be adaptable, organized and have interpersonal abilities. According to Halpern & Tramontin, (2007), when a disaster mental health responder arrives at the natural disaster site, adaptability is important to enable them to assess the psychological health of the victims in the scene. They can then provide them with the right medical care with the limited resources they may have. Since disaster mental health response takes place in chaotic situations, organization skill is essential. A disaster mental health responder is expected to work with different people, and interpersonal abilities are essential (Pfefferbaum, Flynn, Schonfeld, Brown, Jacobs, Dodgen & Reissman, 2012). In any given day, they could find themselves assisting refugees, senior citizens, farmers, and different population. The responder hence needs to identify the mental need of the different populations.
2. What kinds of temperaments, character traits, and even skill sets might present barriers to being effective?
In disaster mental health response, some of the character traits that may present barriers to being effective include commitments to principles, communication, and critical thinking. Commitment to principles may make a responder avoid doing the right action when preserving the principles of an organization (“Coping with a Disaster or Traumatic Event”, 2018) Communication is a skill that cannot be underestimated in disaster mental health response. When it is not effective, response to tragedies become ineffective. Disaster mental health responders are expected to think on their feet. The decisions that they make may, however, be of no mental health benefit to the victims.
3. What if you were in that role? What traits or skills do you think you possess that would be helpful in that role? If not, what skills do you see yourself better suited for? Do you feel that there would be certain aspects of that role that might be especially challenging for you personally?
If I were in the role of disaster mental health responder, my cultural sensitivity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills would be helpful. Through these skills, I feel I would effectively respond to a disaster in mental health in different populations and through coordination with the other teams, we would effectively manage the chaotic situations. Through the skills, I feel there would be no aspect of the role that might be challenging.
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Second Student (Ibrahim)
1. What kinds of temperaments, character traits, and skills seem necessary?
Disaster mental health responder must have the necessary skills, character traits and temperaments to ensure effective mental health response that meets the diverse needs of the patients. An effective disaster mental health responder should have a sanguine temperament in to show compassion and concern to those in need. Sanguine temperaments tend to be enthusiastic, expressive, and affectionate. They are personable and tend to show care for other individuals. It is the most appropriate personality trait that effective disaster mental health responders should possess (Brown, Acevedo & Fisher, 2013). It also important for disaster mental health responders to possess the necessary character traits such as adaptability, flexibility, compassion, and most importantly these individuals should have high cognitive abilities to ensure they exercise their duty with a lot of care. Most importantly effective disaster responders should show love for community service to enable them respond effectively to help fellow humans. Skills such as effective communication, interpersonal skills, disaster knowledge and team work are also necessary for an effective disaster responder (Brown, Acevedo & Fisher, 2013).
2. What kinds of temperaments, character traits, and even skill sets might present barriers to being effective?
There are a number of temperaments, character traits and skills that may not be effective for mental health disaster responders. Temperaments such as phlegmatic temperaments are not idea for an effective mental health responder. Phlegmatic temperament individuals live a quite routine life free from the normal anxieties of life. They avoid getting too involved with people and life in general and they tend to prefer private life. Such temperaments may not be ideal for an effective mental health responder in the sense that mental health responders should be outgoing and sociable (Brown, Acevedo & Fisher, 2013). They should associate with other fellow humans to show compassion for those in need. Bad character traits such as arrogance, awkward, cruel, and beastly are not good traits of effective mental health responders because they hinder effective response. An effective mental health responder should not be arrogant to those he or she serves because such character discourages those in need. Mental health responders should not have a hot temper whenever they are called upon to help those in need of help. Hot tempers result to aggression which is not an ideal for such responsibilities (King et al., 2016).
3. What if you were in that role? What traits or skills do you think you possess that would be helpful in that role? If not, what skills do you see yourself better suited for? Do you feel that there would be certain aspects of that role that might be especially challenging for you personally?
As a disaster mental health responder, I would showcase the most ideal character traits that I possess which are necessary for effective intervention in the case of a disaster. I believe responsive and compassionate and I would ensure that I treat each victim of the disaster with dignity and respect that they deserve. Because the victims of a disaster require compassionate care, I would showcase compassionate care that meets the unique needs of the victims. I possess skills such as effective communication, adaptability, leadership and accountability. I believe these skills are necessary for effective disaster responders to help in meeting the needs of those involved in the disaster. Effective listening is another important skill that I would apply in the scenario to help listen to the diverse problems of those caught in the disaster. It is important to listen to the perspective of every victim to provide effective response that meets the unique needs of the mental health disaster victims.
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Third student (Ahmed)
What do you think it takes to be a qualitatively effective Disaster Mental Health responder? What kinds of temperaments, character traits, and skills seem necessary?
The qualities, skills and character traits required to be possessed by the disaster mental health responders are essential for him/her to do their job adequately. First, they have to be knowledgeable of the psychological repercussions of disasters, for them to act in the right way they have to be prepared and trained to adjust to these situations. Second, they have to be attentive to the signs that are present when dealing with the involved responders, distinguishing between the natural and pathological behaviors in disasters is very important because in the midst of the event, most victims and responders don’t admit that they are psychologically affected. Third, being good at communicating with others is very crucial to all disaster mental health responders because they will be faced with confused victims that are in a great need for clarifications. And when you can’t provide them with answers (just like we practiced with the Trauma Counseling students), you will rely on your communication skills to assure and console them. Fourth, a disaster mental health responder should be flexible when dealing with other organizations. They will encounter many situations in which their jobs will be underestimated by other responders, they will have to adapt and maneuver around certain obstacles unconsciously made by the involving jurisdictions’ personnel. Lastly, a responder should be self-aware of the burden of taking care of him/herself first, neglecting the mental health of the responder him/herself will interrupt the whole process and will compromise the outcomes.
What kinds of temperaments, character traits, and even skill sets might present barriers to being effective?
Judging people in disasters by the disaster mental health responders is damaging to the victims themselves and to the mental health care provided to them. People reactions to traumatic events can vary greatly from a complete breakdown to feeling some sense of joy or pride that they survived and helped (just like the 9/11 ferries captains video) and being hesitant about how legitimate their reactions will be unethical as well as disruptive. Furthermore, being overly leaning towards one’s privacy will only negatively affect the health of the mental health responder, making his/her small responders’ community their only safe place to express the stress they are experiencing. Also, not being trustworthy and not keeping the confidentiality of the victims are bad traits that will have short and long terms effects. One of the short-term effects is the violation of privacy of the helpless victims, meanwhile, it will affect the trust people have for disaster responders in general. Lastly, feeling empathy and sympathy indicate that the person cares and are understanding. However, for a disaster mental health responder, being empathetic instead of sympathetic will not be helpful because it will make the responder more vulnerable each time they encounter a tough situation, compromising the mental health care given to the victim.
What if you were in that role? What traits or skills do you think you possess that would be helpful in that role? If not, what skills do you see yourself better suited for? Do you feel that there would be certain aspects of that role that might be especially challenging for you personally?
I think that role is challenging to play. I think my feelings of compassion will drive me to be better at that role because I’m concerned about the well-being of others and the overall mental state. My EMS background prepared me very well for that role, since the first call I volunteered to respond to, I was dealing with very distressed people that consider that day to be their worst. I learned to listen and not only care but show that you care about the person in front of you. I think the fact that I (as a paramedic) was always the first person to interact with the victims, I gained awareness that people can have different reactions to the same traumatic event, it gave me insight into the importance of being considerate and understanding even when you feel that the reaction was unusual to you. The training we had with the Trauma Counseling students showed me how difficult it is to assure and communicate with a worried victim or family member, or even a fellow responder in some cases. In that area is where I think I will have the most trouble, and this is where I think I need to be better.
Above are three Discussion Board answered all you need is just to do response for each one of them. These are the professor inquiry for the responses (Are you surprised by any of your classmates’ reactions? Why or why not? Did someone raise a necessary skill or character trait that you hadn’t thought about for that role? Respond to at least 3 of your classmates and don’t forgot to cite your response).