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Psychological First Aid for Students

PFA (Psychological First Aid) is a supportive response to help people suffering from distress caused by traumatic events. It aims to reduce initial distress and promote coping. PFA can be provided to people of all ages exposed to crises and involves making support available without forcing help. It is designed for delivery in diverse settings immediately after or during a crisis. Privacy is important when providing PFA to respect people's dignity, especially after events involving violence.

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35 views12 pages

Psychological First Aid for Students

PFA (Psychological First Aid) is a supportive response to help people suffering from distress caused by traumatic events. It aims to reduce initial distress and promote coping. PFA can be provided to people of all ages exposed to crises and involves making support available without forcing help. It is designed for delivery in diverse settings immediately after or during a crisis. Privacy is important when providing PFA to respect people's dignity, especially after events involving violence.

Uploaded by

Genesis Idea
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

ORIENTATION ON

PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST
AID FOR GRADE 9
LEARNERS
WHAT IS PFA?
Is a humane,supportive response to a fellow human
being who is suffering and who may need support.
 It is an acute intervention of choice when responding
to the psychosocial needs of children, adults and
families affected by disaster and terrorism.
It is designed to
reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic events
and to foster
immediate and long term adaptive functioning and co
ping.
PFA is for distressed people who have been
recently exposed to a serious crisis event. It
involves people of all ages, including children.

Note: Do not force help on people who do not


want it, but make yourself easily available to
those who may want support.
People may react in various ways to a crisis. Some
examples of distress responses to crisis are:
 Physical symptoms – eg. Shaking, headaches, feeling very
tired,
loss of appetite, aches and pains
 Crying, sadness, depressed mood, grief
 Anxiety, fear
 Being ‘on guard’ or ‘jumpy’
 Worry that something really bad is going to happen
 Insomnia, nightmares
 Irritability, anger
 Guilt, shame (eg. having survived, or for not helping or saving
others)
Confused, emotionally numb, or feeling unreal or
in a daze
 Appearing withdrawn or very still (not moving)
 Not responding to others, not speaking at all
 Disorientation (eg. not knowing their name,
where they are from or what happened)
Not being able to care for themselves or their
children (eg. Not eating or drinking, not able to
make simple decisions)
PFA is aimed at people who have been
recently affected by a crisis event. You can
provide PFA when you first have contact
with very distressed people. This is usually
during
or immediately after an event.
PFA is designed for delivery in diverse
settings. You can provide PFA in shelters, field
hospitals, camps, acute care facilities
(emergency departments), respite centers for
first responders or other relief workers, crisis
hotlines, feeding locations, family reception
and assistance centers, homes, businesses,
schools, evacuation centers and other
community settings.
Ideally try to provide PFA where you can
have some privacy to talk with the person
when appropriate. Privacy is essential for
confidentiality and to respect the person’s
dignity, for those who have been exposed to
certain types of crisis events such as sexual
violence.

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