School-based mental health services in post-disaster contexts: A public health framework

Abstract

Large scale natural disasters pose serious risks to mental health and simultaneously wreak havoc on the very systems called upon to ameliorate those risks. School-based mental health services have been identified as a potential mechanism through which gaps in service delivery systems can be addressed in post-disaster environments. We believe that a public health framework provides a useful guide for school psychologists who may be called upon to develop school-based systems of care following a disaster. In this article we discuss considerations and challenges in the application of this model in the context of our experience developing school-based mental health services in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, following Hurricane Katrina.