Background. Providing emergency psychological assistance to the population affected by emergency situations (ES) today is an integral part of emergency response measures. The required psychological work with the victims and their relatives is carried out by psychologists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM), Russia. Children are a particular group of victims, so it is important to study how to help them in emergency situations.
The Objective of this paper is to summarize and analyze the experience of the EMERCOM psychological service, Russia, in organizing and providing emergency psychological assistance to children, parents and teachers of secondary schools.
Design. In the past few years, the experts of the EMERCOM psychological service, Russia, have gained experience in providing emergency psychological assistance to children after incidents in educational institutions. The paper describes the experience of psychologists in connection with the incident that occurred in January, 2018 in secondary school 127 in the city of Perm, Russia, where the teenagers attacked younger students and their class teacher. The authors describe the organization and areas of psychological in this situation. The contents and objectives of the psychological work at the emergency site, the process of expert advice in organizing mass events to inform parents and teachers, and examples describing the methods of providing emergency psychological assistance are described.
Results. The authors highlighted the recommended areas of special attention, and also articulated the features that the psychologist should take into account when providing psychological assistance to victims of emergency situations and incidents that occurred on the territory of educational institutions.
Conclusion. The category of those who need psychological assistance in the acute period is wider the category of those who are harmed and who witnessed the event. The public stir results in embracing those who did not participate in the event but was emotionally involved. It is safe to say that such situations affect more people, which induces the necessity of psychological support and implementation of an integrated approach in order to preserve the mental health of both children and adults, which requires involvement of experts of various profiles.
Sections: Immediate Mental Healthcare;
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Keywords: emergency psychological assistance; children; emergency situations; stress; psychological support; psychological service of Russian Emergencies Ministry; secondary school;
Available Online 30.01.2019
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