Responding to the stress of natural disasters: The Floods of 2008

This year Iowa has suffered from extreme winter temperatures and record snowfalls, followed by a spring that brought record rainfall, flooding across the state, and devastating tornadoes. When natural disasters strike, people feel overwhelmed and helpless. IPA and Don Damsteegt, Public Education Committee chair of the IPA offer strategies for managing stress in the following article: Coping with Natural Disaster [1].

IPA Public Education

The IPA Public Education Committee wants to "give psychology away." If you are interested in learning more about psychological materials that are available to the public contact the APA Help Center [2] or the IPA Central Office [3]

The Public Education Committee is committed to finding ways to provide information that Iowans can use. For example, this is a link to a report on Stress in America [4], a survey APA conducted in fall of 2007.

If you are interested in finding a psychologist for a public speaking event, please contact IPA [5]

APA-sponsored public education efforts

The Iowa Psychological Association (IPA) is the Iowa affiliate of the American Psychological Association [7] (APA). In addition to the Public Education Campaign discussed here, APA also offers public education resources through the APA Help Center [8].

The APA first established a Public Education Campaign in the mid-1990s. APA conducted a series of focus groups and a nationwide poll to discover how the public perceived psychology and to find out what they understood about mental health issues. APA discovered that there was a gap between what the public understood about psychology and the realities of the everyday practice of psychology.

The first public education campaign was Talk to Someone Who Can Help. In the wake of the shootings at Columbine, APA teamed with MTV to produce Warning Signs, a video and discussion materials about reducing teen suicide and homicide.

In response to 911, APA teamed with the Discovery Channel to produce The Road to Resilience, a video and supporting materials about coping with trauma and loss. In response to the Iraq war and recent natural disasters, APA has expanded that campaign. The most recent effort is the Mind/Body Campaign, which emphasizes the impact of stress on physical health. Subcategories of emphasis are stress and heart disease, stress and obesity, and stress and work.