Safety, Recovery and Hope After Hurricane Sandy: Helping Communities and Families

Complex disasters such as Hurricane Sandy present a cascade of impacts to those affected —individuals, families and communities. These disasters often promote feelings of fear, confusion, grief, helplessness, anxiety, anger, guilt and even diminished confidence in self or others. In order to counter these effects, disaster experts endorse an approach called Psychological First Aid (PFA), which can help reduce negative feelings and foster one’s sense of safety, recovery and hope.