“Black Saturday” and its Aftermath: Reflecting on Postdisaster Social Work Interventions in an Australian Trauma Hospital

Social workers at The Alfred, a major tertiary referral teaching hospital in Melbourne, Australia, played a key role in providing psychosocial support to patients and their families following the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in the State of Victoria. Faced with the highest number of casualties ever admitted simultaneously, and the media and community involvement surrounding the national disaster, new practice challenges emerged that led to tensions when compared to everyday practice. This article examines three challenges identified in the team's critical reflections—managing privacy and publicity; negotiating the boundaries of professional practice; and managing the impact of the work. These practice challenges are considered in light of relevant trauma and disaster literature that addresses the importance of promoting self-efficacy, hope, and connectedness; forming collective narratives of survivorship and resilience; negotiating the ethical questions of service intimacy and intensity; and implementing both active and avoidant self-care strategies. These challenges are relevant to disaster work that social workers and other health professionals will respond to in the future, and therefore they can inform disaster planning responses.