Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

114 Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness
might be of benefit in the event of an incident. Figure 6.1 shows the twoway
process the authors suggest can lead to a parallel process as discussed
in the following. The benefits of such a parallel process are described in
Hawkins and Shohet (2006) and Hughes and Pengelly (1997). The authors
suggest that the community’s identified resources in disaster management
not only involve consultation with the communities served but also include
an identification of their abilities to help themselves and the support
for self-help.
In adopting the model as suggested here, practitioners can use a structured
process that will benefit both sides. This model provides a link between
what is going on in the here and now and what might happen out
there in the future. At each point along the way, the supervisor will encourage
the use of reflective practice both to identify previous experiences
and existing coping mechanisms and to link them to future, possible actions
(Wilson, 2008). This use of anticipatory reflection to identify future
courses of action (Sully, et al., 2008) can be used to promote self-help
within communities and individuals. While this model is unlikely to be
used widely, it would be possible to use it in closed communities such as
residential homes, retirement complexes, and so forth.
Figure 6.2 shows how the mirroring processes can inform the development
and delivery of services during an emergency or disaster. The process
is contained by a semipermeable boundary that allows such things
as national and international law to have an impact upon the reflective
process and on the experiences of practitioners, who in turn influence national
and international agreements, protocols, and codes of practice. For
this reason, it is important that the containing boundary is not rigid and
inflexible. It is imperative throughout the process that the core conditions
of facilitative relationships (Hazler, 2001; Rogers, 1961; Wood, 2007) are
strictly observed.
CONCLUSION
Reflective practice is a means of enabling practitioners to hone their skills
in understanding group process and their interprofessional and interagency
responses and address shared spoken and unspoken group choices,
especially the displacement of anxiety (Obholzer, 1994), when preparing
for and responding to major disasters.
The supervisory process is a key element of this model. Supervision
can identify what is available for the future through looking at the past,