Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR)

Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR)
Approach to helping kids, teens, and families for the weeks to months (up to 2 years) after a disaster.

sPR Field Operations Guide
Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR)
For the weeks and months (up to 2 years) after disasters
A brief description (From the SPR Field Operations Guide): Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) is an evidence-informed modular intervention that aims to help survivors gain skills to manage distress and cope with post-disaster stress and adversity. SPR is designed to help children, adolescents, adults, and families gain skills to reduce ongoing distress and effectively cope in the weeks and months following disaster and trauma. It is based on an understanding that disaster survivors will experience a broad range of reactions (physical, psychological, behavioral, spiritual) over differing periods of time. Principles and techniques of SPR meet four basic standards. They are 1) Consistent with research evidence on risk and resilience following trauma 2) Applicable and practical in field settings 3) Appropriate for developmental levels across the lifespan 4) Culturally informed. SPR is intended to provide psychological assistance to survivors of disasters and traumatic events after the initial crisis has subsided—in the recovery phase.
Learning objectives:
By the completion of the training, participants will be able to:
- Discuss the purpose of SPR after disasters/terrorism/mass violence.
- Identify who can provide SPR after disasters/terrorism/mass violence.
- List at least 4 common reactions of adults/children after disasters/terrorism/mass violence
- List at least 3 of the 6 skills to SPR
- Discuss the importance of self-care for the SPR-provider.
Length of training:
Two full days (7-8 hours) with a minimum of 10 and maximum of 100 people
Training Venue:
On-site either at the requestee’s site or at Florida International University or via Zoom
Intended training audience:
Any professional that works directly with youth. Examples include (and are not limited to); mental health professionals, first responders, physicians, clinicians, graduate students, teachers, educators, school administrators, coaches, faith-based organizations, law enforcement, case managers and juvenile justice professionals.