A relevant, well-crafted emergency plan can help schools most optimally return to normal following a disaster. During this time, educators find themselves facing unintended responsibilities like operating on the front lines of providing social-emotional support for their students. Researchers conducted 115 interviews with educators impacted by…

Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common and have the potential to impact the school day. This study aimed to explore teachers' and administrators' perspectives on weather-related school closures. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten key informants and analyzed using content analysis. Informants took a strengths-based…

Since vulnerability is not recognized, the issue of mental health in Puerto Rico is something that is invisible on the island. The objective of this research is to recognize the negative psychological effects caused by the passage of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The data collection was carried out through nine semi-structured interviews, with…

Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and destructive due to climate change and have been shown to be associated with a variety of adverse mental health outcomes in children and adolescents. This study utilizes data from three cohort studies of Hurricane Katrina survivors--including low-income mothers from New Orleans; displaced and highly…

Climate change is contributing to the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events globally. Numerous Australian communities have been affected by severe bushfires, floods, and droughts over the past decades. In response to natural disasters, art therapists should focus on trauma healing, community resilience, while maintaining…

School-age children are at high risk of experiencing traumatic and stressful events that can negatively impact their academic, emotional, and behavior performance. Students that have been exposed to a traumatic and adverse experience present with high rates of dropout, low academic performance, conduct problems, aggression, depression, and…

Adaptations for specific cultural populations are needed to respond to children affected by natural disasters. After Hurricane María, we provided disaster response training to mental health professionals and Disaster Response Play Therapy services to children in Puerto Rico. In this article, we describe culturally specific, field-tested…

Disasters can affect a youth's physical and emotional well-being. They disrupt everyday life by displacing individuals and families, destroying homes, and splintering communities (Gewirtz et al. in J Marital Fam Ther 34(2):177--192, 2008; La Greca and Silverman in Child Dev Perspect 3(1):4-10, 2009). School-based interventions are one approach to…

Project Fleur-de-lis[TM] (PFDL) was established to provide a tiered approach to triage and treat children experiencing trauma symptoms after Hurricane Katrina. PFDL provides school screening in schools in New Orleans and three tiers of evidence-based treatment (EBT) to disaster-exposed children utilizing a public health approach to meet the…

The 2006 National Resiliency Response Initiative for Katrina's Kids is a systematic approach to providing resiliency support to the over 200,000 children victimized by one of the worst natural disasters in American history. From the Gulf States region, children suffered trauma during and after Hurricane Katrina as they became displaced young…

Hurricane Katrina devastated the American gulf coast, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless and without food, water, shelter, and clothing. Men, women, and children perished, crushed by the effects of violent winds across four states, or drowned in massive ocean waves and in floodwater that swamped New Orleans and made the city…