Crisis Management: Practical Psychological First Aid
(Eligible for Skillsfuture Credit, among others)

Funding Organisations
​ Normal Fee: $580. Funding details available at the Funding page.

Course Overview

Crisis events, regardless man-made or natural, happen suddenly and leave behind not just physical damage, but also disastrous emotional effects on people.  Till today, some families of the 2014 Flight MH 370 airplane crash victims are still grieving and searching for closure. The Sabah earthquake that killed several Tanjong Katong Primary School staff and students in 2015 was another heart-wrenching incident that Singaporeans mourn together.

At the same time, governments all over the world are bracing themselves for brutal attacks planned against their country by hostile forces within and without. Singapore is not excluded. Our Law and Home Affairs Minister, Mr K Shanmugam, put it mostly starkly: "It is no longer a question of whether an attack will take place, but really, when is an attack going to take place in Singapore and we have to be prepared for that," (The Straits Times, 18 Mar 2016). 
 
When a crisis situation strikes, it is critical that the affected people – family members, relatives and friends - are helped compassionately, swiftly and skillfully. Put differently, administering 'Psychological First Aid' to sooth the mental state of affected persons is just as important as applying bandages to physical injuries. This will go a long way to restoring their mental wellbeing. From a corporate perspective, providing timely psychological interventions help mitigate chances of lawsuits, negative press and further staff psychological distress. 

This workshop equips participants with practical psychological first aid skills needed during crisis situations. Unlike other similarly titled courses, this workshop goes beyond just explaining the fundamental do's and don'ts of what you should do, e.g., acknowledge the sufferer's feelings, respect privacy, etc. This course goes deeper by teaching practical PFA skills, for instance, techniques to help victims recover from unstable emotional states (or states of shock).

(PS: This workshop does not address setting up organisational structures to cope with disaster events.)
 
This skills training workshop has 3 major components. The 1st part teaches participants how to provide practical help to individuals impacted by the crisis. They will learn important psychological first aid skills like Pacing, Distraction and Diffusion. Part 2 focuses on teaching participants to deal with groups of people who are affected.  Similarly, participants will be taught group psychological first aid skills. Part 3 gives participants an understanding of how the bereaved friends and family members, disaster workers and the public will respond to grief, death and bereavement. Loss of a parent or child will be discussed. Participants will learn skills to help these affected cope of grief, death and bereavement.
 
The workshop facilitator is Dr Matthew Woo. He was the Senior Principal Clinical Psychologist with the Institute of Mental Health for many years before he set up his private practice to treat clients with mental conditions.  Dr Woo has a wealth of experience in training major organisations like the Singapore Airlines to prepare them for crisis situations. In his professional capacity, he was also involved as part of the Crisis Management team in several natural disaster incidents in Asia.
 
An articulate and engaging trainer, his workshops are always very well-received.


Target Audience

This workshop is designed especially for participants without clinical psychological background.
 
It is suitable for:
  1. those with a leadership role in crisis or emergency such as HR personnel, department heads, etc., who need to manage crisis situations.
  2. those wanting training in practical psychological intervention techniques to help individuals and groups, such as Social Workers, Educators and  Counsellors.
 
The spectrum of company types that will benefit from this workshop is broad:
  • Small Businesses
  • Charities and Non-Profit-Organizations
  • Private sector companies
  • Enterprise Organizations
  • Government Bodies and Statutory Boards
  • Educational Institutions


Duration
1 day (9 hours)

Workshop Topics:

Introduction: Importance of Psychological Intervention During Crisis Situations
  • What is a crisis?
  • The need for immediate psychological intervention in crisis situations
  • Commonly applied psychosocial interventions: An Overview
    • Psychological First Aid
    • Psychological Debriefing
    • Crisis Counselling
 
Part A: Psychological First Aid to Help the Individual
  • Mental state of the affected individual
  • What is Psychological First Aid (PFA)?
  • Managing the Distraught Individual: Strategies and Skills
    • Active Listening: Pacing and Leading
    • Basic Ph of Coping
    • Distraction
    • Disruption
    • Diffusion
  • Practice Time
    • Case Studies
    • Role-play and scenario
    • Skill practice
 
Part B: Psychological First Aid to Help the Group
  • Circle of Vulnerability: Mapping Affected People and Level of Impact Severity
  • Mental state of the affected persons in the group
  • What is Group Psychological First Aid (PFA)?
  • Strategies and Skills to manage affected groups
  • Practice Time
    • Case Studies
    • Role-play and scenario
    • Skill practice
 
Part C: Helping People Cope With Grief, Death and Bereavement 
 
  • Understanding Grief
    • What is Grief?
    • Different types of grief response
    • Stages of Grief
    • Trauma-focused counselling
 
  • Part D: Practical Intervention
    • Helping the bereaved family, friends and relatives
    • Helping the Disaster Worker
    • Helping the Public
 
  • Part E: Practice Time
    • Case Studies
    • Role-play and scenario
    • Skill practice​
* Terms and Conditions apply. Click here for funding details. ​