Una 21 April- District Disaster Management Authority, Una inaugurated a three-day training program on the topic "Mental health and psychosocial support in disasters" today under the chairmanship of ADC Mahendra Pal Gurjar at Bachat Bhawan Una. More than 50 participants including volunteers from frontline departments, disaster response agencies, disaster friends, home guards, police, health and various organizations are participating in the workshop. People of different age groups from senior citizens to young volunteers are included in this training.
In this training, topics like sharing experiences related to disasters and understanding their context, understanding risk in the context of disaster, impact of disasters on disaster affected people, needs and support cycle of affected individuals and communities, special needs of vulnerable sections and equal opportunities, visible and invisible aspects of providing psychosocial care, understanding normal and abnormal reactions, role of psychosocial caregiver, impact on disaster affected women and children and strategies to work for them, self-care and stress management will be discussed.
The ADC said that Una district regularly faces disasters, and the disaster of the year 2023 has left many wounds on Himachal Pradesh. Usually we talk about rebuilding roads, bridges and houses, but there is less discussion on the impact of disasters on mental health. He further said that psycho-social support for disaster affected families is also an important aspect of disaster management.
In this training program, expert and resource person Anuradha Bhardwaj from Dooars NGO, Shimla shared her views and trained the participants. Rajan Kumar Sharma, Training and Capacity Building Coordinator in charge of Disaster Management, Una, said that in future also such workshops will be organized by the administration from time to time for the concerned departments and other agencies.
This training program will be an important effort to understand the mental and social aspects of disaster management and provide effective assistance. The training will not only provide information to the participants about psycho-social support techniques, but will also prove to be useful tips for self-care and stress management.
On this occasion, officers and employees from various departments including in-charge of Disaster Management Department Dheeraj Kumar, Rajat Saini were present.