https://www.facebook.com/ChannelNewsAsia/videos/10154450580557934/
SINGAPORE: Grassroots leaders will soon receive formal training from mental health professionals to help residents respond and deal with the psychological effects of a terror attack, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday (Mar 19).
Starting this month, psychologists and counsellors from the Home Team, Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Institute of Mental Health – called Human Emergency Assistance and Response (HEART) teams – will teach grassroots leaders and residents psychological first aid (PFA).
Those trained will learn to identify and help residents who exhibit post-terror stress, among other things.
Police officers subdue "terrorists" in a simulated terror attack on Mar 19, 2017. (Photo: Kenneth Lim)
Developed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in 2006 and certified by the World Health Organisation (WHO), PFA helps provide immediate psychological and practical support to people in the wake of a traumatic incident, in order to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder and distress.
“People will be nervous, be anxious, will be stressed, and you need to reassure them, calm them down, bring them back to become normal again, and give them emotional and psychological support," said Mr Lee, who announced the initiative at an Emergency Preparedness Day event at his Teck Ghee ward, the latest in a series of grassroots events aimed at raising awareness among residents through simulated terror attacks and exhibitions.
Channel NewsAsia understands that the PFA training involves a four-hour course. Grassroots members from all 89 constituencies will undergo the training, and a group of 60 Ang Mo Kio GRC volunteers were the first to be trained last Sunday.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...aining-on-helping-residents-deal/3607670.html
SINGAPORE: Grassroots leaders will soon receive formal training from mental health professionals to help residents respond and deal with the psychological effects of a terror attack, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday (Mar 19).
Starting this month, psychologists and counsellors from the Home Team, Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Institute of Mental Health – called Human Emergency Assistance and Response (HEART) teams – will teach grassroots leaders and residents psychological first aid (PFA).
Those trained will learn to identify and help residents who exhibit post-terror stress, among other things.
Police officers subdue "terrorists" in a simulated terror attack on Mar 19, 2017. (Photo: Kenneth Lim)
Developed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in 2006 and certified by the World Health Organisation (WHO), PFA helps provide immediate psychological and practical support to people in the wake of a traumatic incident, in order to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder and distress.
“People will be nervous, be anxious, will be stressed, and you need to reassure them, calm them down, bring them back to become normal again, and give them emotional and psychological support," said Mr Lee, who announced the initiative at an Emergency Preparedness Day event at his Teck Ghee ward, the latest in a series of grassroots events aimed at raising awareness among residents through simulated terror attacks and exhibitions.
Channel NewsAsia understands that the PFA training involves a four-hour course. Grassroots members from all 89 constituencies will undergo the training, and a group of 60 Ang Mo Kio GRC volunteers were the first to be trained last Sunday.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...aining-on-helping-residents-deal/3607670.html
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