1st Edition
Trauma, Resilience, and Posttraumatic Growth in Frontline Personnel
Trauma, Resilience, and Posttraumatic Growth in Frontline Personnel examines the history, context, nature, and complexity of working in front-line services. Chapters provide a detailed overview of specific mental health models that are applicable both on a day-to-day basis and to disaster and major event response. The book also details elements of mental health responses that have been proven to facilitate coping, minimize risk, and promote both resilience and posttraumatic growth. These strategies include, but are not limited to, peer support programs, mental health education, and psychological first aid. Each chapter incorporates research on PTSD, anxiety, and depression as well as research relating to posttraumatic growth, resilience, connectedness, and belongingness.
Trauma, Resilience, and Posttraumatic Growth in Frontline Personnel is a vital guide for those who provide care to trauma survivors as well as for researchers and scholars.
Foreword
Richard Tedeschi
Part One: Mental Health Strategies within Frontline Organizations
1. Introduction, Core Concepts and Purpose
Jane Shakespeare-Finch
2. Psychoeducation, Leadership, and Interventions
Jane Shakespeare-Finch and Paul J. Scully
Part Two: Specific Frontline Roles and Contexts
3. Emergency Medical Dispatchers
Renee Treolar-Munro
4. Law Enforcement
K. C. Kalmbach
5. Paramedics
Jane Shakespeare-Finch and Paul J. Scully
6. Firefighters
Robyn Kirby
7. Disaster and Emergency Response Volunteers
Leanne Hinsch and James Douglas
8. Nurses
Elly McCormick and Gillian Ray-Barruel
9. Emergency Physicians
Gerry Fitzgerald
10. Correctional Officers
Olivia Miller and Dagmar Bruenig
11. Military Personnel
Kaye Adams and Megan Fry
12. Child Protection Workers
Emma Malone
13. Mental Health Workers
Louise Munro
14. Disaster Victim Identification Specialists
Peter Ellis and Howard Way
15. Humanitarian Workers
Gülşah Kurt, Mohamed Elshazly, Olga Rebolledo, Ruth Wells, and Simon Rosenbaum
Part Three: Building Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth in Individuals and Communities
16. Therapy and Counseling for Frontline Workers
Paul J. Scully
17. Community Growth and Resilience in the Face of Disasters
Vivienne Tippett and Benjamin Ryan
18. Summary and Reflections
Dagmar Bruenig and Jane Shakespeare-Finch
Biography
Jane Shakespeare-Finch has spend 25 years conducting research to inform psychoeducation and intervention programs promoting resilience and posttraumatic growth in frontline personnel.
Paul J. Scully has worked in emergency services for over 40 years, first as a paramedic, then paramedicine educator, and later as a clinical psychotherapist.
Dagmar Bruenig works in genetics and epigenetics maintaining a focus on interdisciplinary research. Dagmar has worked with diverse cohorts, including military personnel, paramedics, and correctional service officers.
"This refreshing book notes that trauma emerges from the subjective response to the event, rather than the event itself. This is the first book to extend beyond traditional frontline professions to include others that are also vulnerable to trauma and traumatic reactions. As a result, the book is an extraordinary and lucid overview of the field from the perspective of trauma and posttraumatic growth."
Charles R. Figley, PhD, the Tulane University Paul Henry Kurzweg, MD, distinguished chair in Disaster Mental Health and director of the Tulane University Traumatology Institute
"Internationally known researcher Jane Shakespeare-Finch has teamed up with an extensive range of interdisciplinary colleagues to produce this important collection. This is a beautifully organized book that follows the journeys of emergency first responders to those who remain involved long after the immediate situation averts, and it combines personal vignettes with rigorous reviews of the literature. It will serve as a welcome resource to students, academics, and practitioners alike."
Professor Cheryl Regehr, vice president and provost, University of Toronto
"This book makes an invaluable contribution to the literature on resilience and posttraumatic growth. There are similarities but also distinct differences among the various groups of frontline workers. Each chapter provides a unique understanding of posttraumatic growth that is greatly needed not only to facilitate health and wellness in the individual, but also to improve our overall society. I highly recommend the work of these authors."
Professor Brian A. Chopko, PhD, PD, Department of Sociology and Criminology, Kent State University at Stark
