Do You Know How To Provide Psychological First Aid?

Psychological first aid is needed in different situations. For example, they are needed when a catastrophe occurs, when a person is the victim of an atrocious event, or when an uncontrollable crisis occurs. As with physical first aid, it is advisable to know the basics of emergency psychological care.

Obviously, mental health professionals are able to provide psychological first aid, in a more exact sense. However, sometimes the situation calls for speed, and the psychologist may take a while to arrive. That’s why it’s so important to have some elements to know how to act.

Psychological first aid aims to reduce the emotional distress that traumatic events cause. Support human beings to rediscover their ability to face facts. Provide initial support so that the experience doesn’t become devastating.

Basic principles of psychological first aid

To provide psychological first aid to someone who needs it, you must know the five principles on which they are based. Obviously this type of intervention should only be done if there is no competent professional nearby. But, in any case, they are valid to put a limit on the traumatic effects of the affected person. These five principles are:

• Allow free expression. Don’t try to focus your speech on what happened, let her express herself however she wants. It’s not a conversation, it’s not even essential for you to understand your speech. What a person most often needs is to feel that you are close.

• Responsible listening. The person doesn’t need advice and even less sermons. If you are not a mental health professional, it is best to just listen and intervene only by encouraging the person to express themselves. This is not the time to put yourself as a leader, just to follow along.
• Transmit acceptance. You need to be ready to accept whatever the person wants to say. You may even make outlandish statements or express feelings that don’t match the situation. Explain that she is not crazy about being afraid when she has been through a tragedy or great sadness.
• Encourage trust and empathy. Let the person know they can count on you, that you are there to support and help them. Mainly, that your intention is not to judge her, or to judge the facts, but to support her.

• Provide information. It is important that you make yourself available to get all the information you need right now. Whether it’s reviewing wounded lists or your own doctor’s role. Until a professional arrives, it is better that it be you and only you, or the person providing first aid, which acts as a communication channel between the person and the world.

Psychological first aid protocol

Just as there are established protocols for providing physical first aid, there are also paths to follow in the event of a psychological emergency. The steps that need to be taken are not arbitrarily established. They are the result of the experience of professionals who dedicated their efforts to studying the effects of different types of intervention in emergency situations. We present the following protocol:

• Establish contact and approach. It includes introducing yourself (if you don’t know the person), saying why you’re there, inviting the person to sit down, and ensuring there’s some privacy.
• Offer security and relief. First of all, you need to provide physical security. That is, check that the person is out of reach of the threat. Then you must inform what you are going to do. Then make sure the person feels comfortable and doesn’t have a physical change that requires attention, or give them that attention in some way if necessary.
• Stabilize. Our goal is that the victim does not close all means of communication and leave a channel open, however small. If the person is very agitated, ask them to look at you and listen. Show him the path of help you will follow. Encourage the person to do breathing exercises until they get some calm.

• Recompile the information. It’s about asking the person how they feel, what they want and what they need. Give him time if he doesn’t want to talk. Don’t pressure her. Simply let her know that you are there for her. Inquire about your medical condition, think that many affected in shock not only disconnect from the outside, but are also incapable of feeling pain that in other circumstances, with the same physical damage, they would feel. It is also frequent that, when seeing such a large development and realizing the demand that exists for medical help, they do not dare to request it on their own initiative.
• Offer practical assistance. Based on the information collected, design a basic action plan and take action. This action is basically contacting the services that the person should turn to, writing down their needs and responding to whatever they can.

Psychological first aid helps ensure that a crisis situation does not have more serious effects than those that have already been done. Its main task, without a doubt, is to get the affected person to get the assistance of a professional. Their work is limited to a “in the meantime”, and so it must be performed and understood. The key is in serving as a link.