Project outreach: Crisis intervention following natural disaster

Project Outreach was a specially designed crisis intervention program funded by the National Institute of Mental Health following the devastating 1972 Agnes flood disaster in the Wyoming Valley of northeastern Pennsylvania. The project was in operation for 32 months and employed 60 individuals primarily specially trained, indigenous nonprofessionals. Utilizing a neighborhood canvassing effort, Human Service Counselors encountered individuals with a wide range of problems ranging in severity and difficulty from those requiring limited assistance from community resources to those involving the need for direct mental health services. Over 25,000 client contacts were made. The project demonstrated that a cadre of local residents can be recruited, selected, and trained within a very short period of time to provide crisis intervention services to disaster victims. Further, Project Outreach has shown that an active, community-based, outreach/case-finding effort can be a highly effective approach in dealing with the problems of disaster victims.