Abstract
Background: Addressing behavioral health impacts of major disasters is a priority of increasing national attention, but there are limited examples of implementation strategies to guide new disaster responses. We provide a case study of an effort being applied in response to the 2016 Great Flood in Baton Rouge. Methods: Resilient Baton Rouge was designed to support recovery after major flooding by building local capacity to implement an expanded model of depression collaborative care for adults, coupled with identifying and responding to local priorities and assets for recovery. For a descriptive, initial evaluation, we coupled analysis of documents and process notes with descriptive surveys of participants in initial training and orientation, including preliminary comparisons among licensed and non-licensed participants to identify training priorities. Results: We expanded local behavioral health service delivery capacity through subgrants to four agencies, provision of training tailored to licensed and non-licensed providers and development of advisory councils and partnerships with grassroots and government agencies. We also undertook initial efforts to enhance national collaboration around post-disaster resilience. Conclusion: Our partnered processes and lessons learned may be applicable to other communities that aim to promote resilience, as well as planning for and responding to post-disaster behavioral health needs.
Highlights
Addressing behavioral health impacts of major disasters is a priority of increasing national attention, but there are limited examples of implementation strategies to guide new disaster responses
Building on principles of community partnered participatory research [33] and the 13-year history of collaboration in addressing depression across Louisiana and Los Angeles, the goals of Resilient Baton Rouge (RBR) were to use evidence-based models to boost the local ability of Baton Rouge to address common post-disaster behavioral health issues, using depression in adults as the first focus, and to create connections locally and nationally that would support community resilience and recovery
We identified experts throughout the country, partners from around the Gulf region after the four 2017 hurricanes, to explore developing a National Resilience Learning Collaborative (NRLC) dedicated to sharing best practices for promoting disaster preparedness and community resilience and recovery in relation to behavioral health
Summary
There is increasing attention internationally toward the mental health consequences of disasters, which are often thought to be transient, but reported to persist in high prevalence in major events such as the post-Katrina floods or the Exxon Valdez oil spill [1,2]. Louisiana-based disaster recovery experts, researchers, clinicians and community agencies to develop and implement a community resilience-oriented disaster recovery program, Resilient Baton Rouge (RBR), to build local capacity to promote mental wellness and reduce the burden of depression and its consequences following the floods. Building on principles of community partnered participatory research [33] and the 13-year history of collaboration in addressing depression across Louisiana and Los Angeles, the goals of RBR were to use evidence-based models to boost the local ability of Baton Rouge to address common post-disaster behavioral health issues, using depression in adults as the first focus, and to create connections locally and nationally that would support community resilience and recovery. In this case study report, we outline our project development and implementation strategies, initial results from first provider trainings and lessons learned that may be informative for other communities preparing for and responding to disasters
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