The World Health Organisation definition of psychological first aid (PFA) describes the “humane, supportive and practical help to fellow human beings suffering serious crisis events”. For many of us, the Covid-19 crisis will be our first experience of a major incident type event and the potential psychological trauma should not be dismissed.
It’s important to avoid full formal debriefing sessions immediately after a traumatic event as this has been shown to increase the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Formal debriefings involve asking people “how did that make you feel?” and “why did you do that?”. This often has the unintended consequence of the affected person reliving their trauma.
The current advice supported by the WHO, is that people should talk if they want to, even if it is just to talk about the weather. Listening in a safe and comfortable environment should be encouraged but not forced. This should be ideally ‘linked’ to supportive, usually practical, strategies such as getting the phone number for occupational health to access more support, helping with accommodation issues, and liaising with rota organisers.
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Dr Tara Kipling, is available on Critical Care Unit to talk to. She will base herself in the “wobble room” (relatives rooms) or be in the coffee room. Ipswich times are: 0730-1000 on Tuesdays and Thursdays; 1900-2100 on Fridays. Tara is happy to arrange for other sessions on those days. Mobile number is 07760 452521. Tara is available in Colchester on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays.
The WHO have produced a 64 page document describing all of PFA. It provides advice on how to help provide responsible PFA, with further self-care advice that may have already been repeated on our other web pages. It doesn’t hurt to say it again.
The 2 page pocket guide to PFA has been extracted to provide an easy summary:
