In disasters, we spend a lot of time talking about physical safety.

PPE. Triage. Evacuation. Surge capacity. Incident command. Keeping people alive.

But survival is only part of the story.

I’m proud to share my Sigma webinar, “Beyond Physical Safety: Why Mental Health Must Be Central to Disaster Preparedness.”

One of the lessons I have carried with me throughout my career in emergency nursing, disaster response, and public health is that the psychological consequences of a disaster do not end when the immediate response is over.

They affect the patients and communities we serve, but they also affect the nurses, responders, healthcare workers, and volunteers who show up to care for them.

We cannot continue treating mental health as something we address after the disaster.

Psychological preparedness has to be part of preparedness from the beginning: how we educate healthcare professionals, how we build response systems, how we support responders during operations, and how we care for people long after the headlines disappear.

Resilience is not simply asking people to endure more.

It is building systems that recognize the human impact of disaster and provide people with the preparation, resources, leadership, and support they need before, during, and after the response.

Thank you to Sigma for providing a platform for this important conversation.

You can watch the webinar here:
https://www.sigmarepository.org/general_webinars/92/

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