Psychological First Aid Class

Cowlitz County DEM sponsored a Psychological First Aid class for our volunteers on Thursday, August 21st. We were very fortunate to have Ms. Bernadette Dominguez, RN and Mental Health Planner from the Cities Readiness Initiative to instruct this course. The class taught volunteers the specific skills needed to assist friends, neighbors, coworkers, clients, family members and strangers immediately following any type of tragedy. Psychological first aid teaches workers to assist people in the immediate aftermath of disaster to reduce initial distress, and to foster short and long-term adaptive functioning. It is for use by mental health specialists including first responders, primary and emergency health care providers, school crisis response teams, faith-based organizations, disaster relief organizations, Community Emergency Response Teams and Medical Reserve Corps in diverse settings. Due to the overwhelming interest in this course, we have added a second class that will be held on September 22nd at the PUD Conference Room at 961 12th Avenue in Longview from 6:30pm-8:30pm. If you are interested in attending this free class, please contact Jennifer Engkraf at 577-3130 or EngkrafJ@co.cowlitz.wa.us.