Support from Across the World: The Western Regional Alliance for Pediatric Emergency Management’s (WRAP-EM) Virtual Mental Health Reach Back Team

Summary: The Western Regional Alliance for Pediatric Emergency Management (WRAP-EM) has been actively supporting international disaster responses through its Mental Health Virtual Reachback Team model. WRAP-EM employs an evolving consultative collaborative model, drawing from the National Children’s Disaster CONOPS. This involves meeting with the requesting organization to identify critical mental health response and recovery needs, recommending strategic approaches, and providing tactical support and resources to facilitate implementation. The MH Reachback Team offers evidence-based tools and processes via consultation, technical assistance, and training to disaster response governmental and tribal entities, disaster relief NGOs, and independent agencies. In response to the catastrophic flood disaster in Derna, Libya, WRAP-EM provided consultation and training to establish a mental health response. Over 10,000 children have been triaged using the PsySTART system, and ongoing efforts are underway to build capacity within the community to meet these needs, including training Libyan MH providers in Stepped Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy appropriate for low-resource environments. Additionally, WRAP-EM has supported the Gaza Health Initiative, a multinational effort focused on rebuilding Gaza’s healthcare system for children affected by conflict. Medical teams deployed to Gaza received training in trauma-informed pediatric care, as well as the Anticipate-Plan-Cope/PsySTART Responder medical provider resilience-building system. Training has been conducted for providers from multiple countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Jordan, Egypt, and Australia. This approach for addressing mental health needs of youth following disasters requires a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in Emergency Management, Mental Health Clinicians with knowledge and understanding of the disaster behavioral health literature, experience in disaster response in both high and low resource environments, and a flexible approach that can be adapted to the culture and community. The capacity to engage with impacted communities to inform planning for mental health surge response from a systems and clinical focus is key.