Psychological First Aid & Its Relevance to the Pandemic

Susan Ryan sits down with George Everly, PhD, professor at the Center for Humanitarian Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Since 2016, he has been ranked the leading author in the world in the field of crisis intervention, having authored 20 books and 100 published papers.

Given Dr. Everly’s achievements, Ryan taps into his wisdom and insights to tackle the growing workforce fatigue and stress brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. He shares his observations gained through his experiences in responding to major disasters around the globe and talks about a model that helps to predict the psychological toxicity of any given disaster.

In addition, Dr. Everly examines how COVID-19 ranks by way of toxicity and further describes psychological first aid, what it is and is not, and why it is critically important to acquire at such a time as this.

Finally, Dr. Everly addresses the unintended consequences of social isolation, and gives some thought-provoking insights, questions, and a call to action.

Find Dr. Everly’s research work here: https://www.jhsph.edu/faculty/directory/profile/209/george-s-everly