Mental Health Services

Disaster Behavioral Health

The Crisis Counseling Program (CCP)
A natural or man-made disaster can cause much more than property damage. It can create a wide range of emotional, physical, cognitive and behavioral reactions. You may experience stress, anxiety, fear, uncertainty and frustration because you have been through an abnormal event. Everybody who witnesses a disaster is affected by it.

Crisis counseling can be available to help people:

  • Understand their situations and reactions.
  • Regain a sense of mastery and control.
  • Identify, label, and express emotions.
  • Adjust to the disaster and losses.
  • Manage stress.
  • Make decisions and take action.
  • Develop coping strategies.
  • Use community resources.

The Crisis Counseling Program (CCP) supports individual, family and community recovery by offering a variety of services.  Project H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People in Emergencies) services are available where approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with the support of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  In the wake of a disaster, individual, group and public support services are available, free of charge, through our community based partners in recovery.

CCP Services include:

  • Individual and group crisis counseling;
  • Brief educational supports and public education;
  • Assessment, referral, and resource linkage;
  • Community support and networking;
  • Development and distribution of educational materials

As of December 1, 2010, there are no qualifying federally declared major disasters in the State. The Department will post additional information to this site if and when a specific disaster requires new FEMA-sponsored CCP services to be initiated. For additional information, please contact the Disaster Mental Health Coordinator at 850-488-8304.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Resources
Coastal Community Response Program

The Department has engaged community behavioral health providers to provide information, resources, services and referrals to residents and workers in the Panhandle impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

To find a provider offering disaster related services and supports in the Panhandle, please click this link:

DCF Coastal Community Response Contacts

Tips for dealing with the Gulf Oil Spill
The resources below are made available by SAMHSA’s Disaster Technical Assistance Center to assist in responding to the oil spill.

Translations of these materials into Spanish, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian along with additional resources are available at the following website.
More SAMHSA Oil Spill Resources

The Oil Spill Distress Helpline
The Helpline serves those struggling with stress, anger and resentment caused by the economic and psychological impact of the spill.

Trained counselors are available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week All calls are free and confidential. Dial 1-800-985-5990

The Helpline also provides texting services for Floridians struggling with stress, anger and resentment caused by the economic and psychological impact of the oil spill. Texting offers a unique level of anonymity allowing people to reach out for help when they may not feel comfortable making a live call. It also gives counselors the ability to respond in an accepted, non-stigmatized method of communication, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Just like calls, all texts are confidential.

English-speaking users enroll by texting ‘talkwithus’ to 66746.
Spanish-speaking users enroll by texting ‘hablanos’ to 66746.

The user then receives two auto replies thanking them for signing up, providing instructions and a second text from the service provider with a disclaimer about standard text messaging rates. That way if someone inadvertently entered the number or wishes to stop their participation, they can terminate at no charge.

Oil Spill Disaster Helpline Services are provided by 2-1-1 Big Bend in coordination with the Department and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2-1-1 Big Bend is a United Way Agency. For more information about 2-1-1 Big Bend and the Oil Spill Distress Helpline, visit this link.
2-1-1 Big Bend

Crisis Counseling Program Provider Network Resources
The resources below provide program guidance, contract templates, data and reporting tools and training materials designed to assist Department staff and members of the CCP Provider Network in initiating and managing the CCP. These resources are subject to periodic revision by FEMA and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In the event of a disaster, the Department’s Disaster Mental Health Coordinator will ensure the most recent version of each resource is available to impacted providers.

CCP Program Guidance

CCP Application Tools for the Immediate Services Program

CCP Application Tools for the Regular Services Program

CCP Reporting and Data Tools

CCP Reporting Tools

CCP Data Tools English

CCP Data Tools Spanish

CCP Training Tools

CCP Provider Contract Template

The resources below include additional administrative materials for the use of the State Mental Health Authority in applying for and implementing CCP services.

Other Disaster Behavioral Health Response Resources The resources below include a few of the many excellent websites outside the Department’s control which support providers of disaster behavioral health services. This list is not intended to be exhaustive and inclusion or exclusion on this list is not intended as an evaluation of a particular resource.

SAMHSA Resources The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides tip sheets and guidance on managing disaster-related behavioral health stress. The resources below provide age-appropriate information and support designed for disaster responders, emergency planners, behavioral health professionals, educators, parents and the general public.
SAMHSA Disaster Resources

Psychological First Aid Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence-informed modular approach for assisting people in the immediate aftermath of disaster and terrorism to reduce initial distress, and to foster short and long-term adaptive functioning. It is for use by first responders, incident command systems, primary and emergency health care providers, school crisis response teams, faith-based organizations, disaster relief organizations, Community Emergency Response Teams, Medical Reserve Corps, and the Citizens Corps in diverse settings.

A number of excellent PFA trainings are available through many leading academic and response organizations. The link below is to one such resource, PFA Online. PFA Online is a free 6-hour web-based curriculum developed and implemented by the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, Terrorism and Disaster Program, directed by Melissa Brymer, PhD, PsyD. PFA Online was made possible through funding from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the National Center for PTSD (NCPTSD), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
PFA Online

Mental Health First Aid National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare provides training in Mental Health First Aid, a public education program that helps the public identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. It is offered in the form of an interactive 12-hour course that presents an overview of mental illness and substance use disorders in the U.S. and introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems, builds understanding of their impact, and overviews common treatments. The resource below provides an overview of Mental Health First Aid, news and updates, and information on becoming an instructor and finding a course near you.
Mental Health First Aid

Coping with Disasters: Peer Listening Training Research on rural communities and disaster-effects has shown that many of the people who are affected by disasters are reluctant to use traditional mental health services, particularly when the disaster is man-made. Furthermore, traditional mental health services may not be effective at dealing with the long-term effects of disaster. One of the alternative treatments found to be effective is peer counseling. This guide developed by the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council provides an overview of Peer Listening and a complete training manual containing sections on disasters and mental health, communication skills, dealing with anger, common concerns, and support seeking. The training manual is located on pages 163 - 276 and is available for download below.
Coping with Technological Disasters

Florida Disaster.org, Division of Emergency Management Florida Disaster home page. Volunteer Florida