MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS RECRUITMENT INFORMATION For American Red Cross Disaster Relief Operations
What is the Red Cross doing and what do they need?
The Red Cross has been providing shelter, feeding, health and mental health support to hundreds of thousands of people affected by hurricanes, floods and fires throughout the country.
We are always looking to recruit new Disaster Mental Health volunteers to provide support within the local community and on out-of-state relief operations. Keep in mind that disaster relief needs are fluid and change daily and while there are a number of deployment opportunities as of September 15th, 2001, there may not be out-of-state deployment openings at the time that you complete the requirements outlined below and become a Red Cross DMH volunteer.
Be prepared for a waiting period before Red Cross training is available and before you can provide DMH support.
To become a Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Volunteer:
- Enter your zip code under "Find your local Red Cross" at www.redcross.org to find the chapter closest to you.
- Register as a volunteer with the chapter.
- Fill out a health status record o Complete a background check
- Take Foundations of Disaster Mental Health training and Disaster Services: An Overview o Fulfill any other training or paperwork that your chapter may require
- While you are waiting for a course or to be approved to deploy, any support you can provide to your local community and Red Cross chapter will be of great value. (In special circumstances, you may be notified of alternative training arrangements).
For more information, Click HERE
For Connections Disaster Services Eligibility Criteria, Click HERE
Webinar Training November 2, 2011
Currently, there are no openings for national disaster deployments but becoming a volunteer now will allow you to be ready for local disasters and for future national disaster deployment.
This newest (and shortest!) Red Cross class, Foundations of Disaster Mental Health, will be on Wednesday, November 2nd at 2:45 pm Eastern Time. Participants should allot three (3) hours to take the training. Also, please be aware that you will need both a computer with an internet connection in order to see the slides and a phone connection for the audio portion.
To register for this training session go to http://bit.ly/qyANvM. Once you are approved by the host, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the session. Listed above is information about recruitment efforts and eligibility to become a volunteer. In order to be deployed to a disaster, participants will need to contact their local chapters and complete the steps necessary to become Red Cross volunteers. Chapters have varying requirements; new volunteers need to check with the volunteer coordinator at their chapter to find out what other paperwork or courses may be required.
Thank you for considering DMH involvement.