Responding to Psychological Emergencies : A Field Guide

Field Guide for Psychological Emergencies is a quick reference source for rapid intervention and mitigation of psychologically-based field emergencies. The guide provides a user-friendly, cross-referenced, pragmatic reference guide to a variety of psychological maladies that are encountered by emergency services personnel and a variety of other public service professionals. The field guide can also be used as a supplement to the main texts used to cover Module 4, Medical Emergencies which addresses behavioral emergencies at the EMTBasic level and the content in Module 6, Special Considerations of the DOT National Standard Curriculum.

Jeffrey A. Thomas, Psy.D., N.C.C. is the Community Education Coordinator for the City of Goodyear Fire Department. His primary responsibilities are the management and administration of the departments numerous fire and life safety education programs. Dr. Thomas received his Doctor of Psychology Degree from the University of Northern Colorado. Prior to going to work for the City of Goodyear, Dr. Thomas maintained a clinical practice in Phoenix. He specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents, and their families. His expertise includes problems of attention-deficit disorders, disruptive behavior disorders, learning disabilities, depression and suicide, substance abuse, and juvenile gang involvement. Dr. Thomas is recognized internationally as an expert in the area of youth firesetting and juvenile arson. Dr. Thomas has consulted with both the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Association of State Fire Marshals to help establish standards of care for mental health interventions with juvenile firesetters. He currently serves on the NFPA 1035 Committee on professional standards for Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Specialists. Dr. Thomas has been involved in the training emergency service personnel for the past decade. He provides classes to paramedics, firefighters, police officers and others to help them improve their ability to respond to psychological emergencies and provide a higher level of customer service. Dr. Thomas holds the rank of Associate Professor of Counseling and Human Relations at Northern Arizona University. He is an Adjunct Professor of Fire Service Management at Arizona State University and a lecturer at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. S. Joseph Woodall is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Fire Science Program at Fayetteville State University. His other university experience included three years at Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Prior to this he was Division Chair and Assistant Professor at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. While at Grand Canyon University he served as a program director, division chair and associate dean; in online and on campus programs. Dr. Woodall holds a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems and Masters Degrees in Professional Counseling, Education and Human Development. He holds undergraduate degrees in Education and Fire Department Administration. Professor Woodall is also a graduate of the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program. Dr. Woodall retired from the City of Peoria, Arizona Fire Department in July of 2003. He actively served in all fire department ranks up to and including acting Battalion Chief but feels his twelve years as a captain/EMT/Technical Rescue Technician on Ladder 193 provided him with the experiences that made his contribution to this book meaningful. Dr. Woodall has presented nationally on a variety of fire service topics and emergency responder mental health. He has worked as a therapist for the St. Luke's Behavioral Health Employee Assistance Program at is a Licensed Professional Counselor.