This book provides a broad international perspective on the psychological trauma faced by children and adolescents exposed to major disasters, and on the local public health response to their needs. An outstanding quality of the book is that it draws upon the experience of local researchers, clinicians, and public mental health practitioners who dedicated themselves to these children in the wake of overwhelming events. The chapters address exemplary responses to a wide variety of trauma types, including severe weather, war, industrial catastrophes, earthquakes, and terrorism. Because disasters do not recognize geographic, economic, or political boundaries, the chapters have been selected to reflect the diverse global community’s attempt to respond to vulnerable children in the most challenging times. The book, thus, examines a diverse range of healthcare systems, cultural settings, mental health infrastructure, government policies, and the economic factors that have played an important role in responses to traumatic events. The ultimate goal of this book is to stimulate future international collaborations and interventions that will promote children’s mental health in the face of disaster.

This book provides a broad international perspective on the psychological trauma faced by children and adolescents exposed to major disasters, and on the local public health response to their needs. An outstanding quality of the book is that it draws upon the experience of local researchers, clinicians, and public mental health practitioners who dedicated themselves to these children in the wake of overwhelming events. The chapters address exemplary responses to a wide variety of trauma types, including severe weather, war, industrial catastrophes, earthquakes, and terrorism. Because disasters do not recognize geographic, economic, or political boundaries, the chapters have been selected to reflect the diverse global community's attempt to respond to vulnerable children in the most challenging times. The book, thus, examines a diverse range of healthcare systems, cultural settings, mental health infrastructure, government policies, and the economic factors that have played an important role in responses to traumatic events. The ultimate goal of this book is to stimulate future international collaborations and interventions that will promote children's mental health in the face of disaster.

In the devastation that follows a major disaster, there is a need for multiple sectors to unite and devote new resources to support the rebuilding of infrastructure, the provision of health and social services, the restoration of care delivery systems, and other critical recovery needs. In some cases, billions of dollars from public, private and charitable sources are invested to help communities recover. National rhetoric often characterizes these efforts as a "return to normal." But for many American communities, pre-disaster conditions are far from optimal. Large segments of the U.S. population suffer from preventable health problems, experience inequitable access to services, and rely on overburdened health systems. A return to pre-event conditions in such cases may be short-sighted given the high costs - both economic and social - of poor health. Instead, it is important to understand that the disaster recovery process offers a series of unique and valuable opportunities to improve on the status quo. Capitalizing on these opportunities can advance the long-term health, resilience, and sustainability of communities - thereby better preparing them for future challenges. Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters identifies and recommends recovery practices and novel programs most likely to impact overall community public health and contribute to resiliency for future incidents. This book makes the case that disaster recovery should be guided by a healthy community vision, where health considerations are integrated into all aspects of recovery planning before and after a disaster, and funding streams are leveraged in a coordinated manner and applied to health improvement priorities in order to meet human recovery needs and create healthy built and natural environments. The conceptual framework presented in Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters lays the groundwork to achieve this goal and provides operational guidance for multiple sectors involved in community planning and disaster recovery. Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable Communities After Disasters calls for actions at multiple levels to facilitate recovery strategies that optimize community health. With a shared healthy community vision, strategic planning that prioritizes health, and coordinated implementation, disaster recovery can result in a communities that are healthier, more livable places for current and future generations to grow and thrive - communities that are better prepared for future adversities.

This publication in Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics is led by two renown psychiatric physicians specializing in Disaster Psychiatry, Trauma, and International Psychiatry for children and adolescents: Dr. Paramjit Joshi and Dr. Lisa Cullins. The audience for this clinically focused resource includes: Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists -Clinical physicians or research PhDs; Mental Health Nurse Practitioners and all Nurses; International Aid Organizations; Religious Counselors; and Psychology Counselors. Each Author in this publication is recognized expert in their own right, who cover topics such as: Bullying: A Global Approach to Prevention; Challenges in Providing Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services in Low Resource Countries; Child Soldiers; Wealth, Health and the Moderating Role of Implicit Social Class Bias from a Global Perspective; Developing Mental Health Services for child and adolescent psychiatrists after an Earthquake; . Nuclear Disasters; Children Displaced by War: Impact on the Psychological Well-being; Global Perspectives on Teaching and Learning about child and adolescent psychiatry; Partnering and Collaborating for the Word's Children.

This volume discusses 14 different types of disasters and their implications on the social, emotional and academic development of young children, from birth through age eight. It focuses on human-related crises and disasters such as community violence exposure; war and terrorism; life in military families; child trafficking; parent migration; radiation disasters; HIV/AIDS; and poverty. The environment-related disasters addressed in this book include hunger; hurricanes; earthquakes; frostbites; wildfires; and tornadoes. The volume includes suggestions for interventions, such as using picture books with young children in coping with natural disasters and human crises. In addition, each chapter provides research-based strategies for early childhood and related professionals to be used in the classroom. Many children in our world today experience some type of disasters and/or crises. These crises or disasters can either be human- or environment-related and can interrupt children’s daily lives. They often negatively impact children’s development, education, and safety. Bringing together authors representing a variety of countries including Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Haiti, Hungary, Kenya, USA, and Zimbabwe, this book provides truly global perspectives on the various types of disasters and their implications for our work with young children.

A reference on mental health and disasters, focused on the full spectrum of psychopathologies associated with many different types of disasters.