Disaster Mental Health Counseling: A guide to preparing and responding

Jane M. Webber, PhD, LPC, DRCC, is a Lecturer in the Counselor Education Department at Kean University (Union, NJ) and is a New Jersey Licensed Professional Counselor. She was a member of the ACA Task Force for Crisis Response Planning and served on the Advisory Committee for Emergency Preparedness for the 2009 CACREP Standards. Dr. Webber was Guest Editor of the Traumatology Special Section of the Journal of Counseling and Development (Summer 2017) and was primary author of the Journal of Counseling and Development article “Traumatology Trends: A Content Analysis of Three Counseling Journals 1994–2014.” As ACA Foundation Chair during September 11, 2001, she advocated for the ACA Foundation publication Terrorism, Trauma, and Tragedies: Counselor’s Guide to Preparing and Responding, and she coedited the second and third editions. 

Dr. Webber is a former Chair of the ACA Foundation, North Atlantic Region, International Committee, Human Rights Committee, Public Awareness and Support Committee, as well as a member of Governing Council. She was a National Assembly Delegate of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, national Membership Chair, and Member of the Bylaws committee. She is a life member of Chi Sigma Iota. 

Dr. Webber is former President of the New Jersey Counseling Association, the New Jersey Association for College Admission Counseling, the New Jersey Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors, and the New Jersey Association for Specialists in Group Work. She worked for more than 35 years as a college counselor, school counselor, school counseling supervisor, and private practitioner. She has published numerous articles and chapters on disaster mental health, trauma counseling, sand tray therapy, and school counseling—including “Integrating Sand Therapy Into Trauma Counseling: Historical Influences”—and she coauthored “Healing Trauma Through Humanistic Connection” in the award-winning book Humanistic Perspectives on Contemporary Counseling Issues. 

J. Barry Mascari, EdD, LPC, LCADC, DRCC, is Chair of the Counselor Education Department at Kean University (Union, NJ) and is a New Jersey Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor. He has more than 30 years of counseling-related experience in schools and outpatient treatment, and he participated in the development of the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) student assistance counselor certification. He was a member and Chair of the New Jersey Professional Counselor Examiners Committee (the state licensing board) for 10 years and a former President of the American Association of State Counseling Boards (AASCB), New Jersey Counseling Association, and New Jersey Mental Health Counselors Association. With Dr. Ed Stroh and Nancy Marie Bride, he lobbied for licensure in New Jersey for 20 years and coauthored the licensure bill that was finally passed in 1993. 

Dr. Mascari is considered the “father” of 20:20 The Future of Counseling, a collaborative initiative between AASCB and ACA that resulted in the common definition of counseling. He was among the founders of the New Jersey Council on Divorce and Family Mediation, and he coauthored the seminal work Family Mediation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come. He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows, including the Sally Show, Soap Talk, 48 Hours on Crack Street, Straight Talk, the WNET special Teens in Turmoil, and National Public Radio. Dr. Mascari was a NJDOE trainer for Intervention and Referral Service and continues to host trainings at Kean University for New Jersey school districts.