Mental Preparedness: Safety and Security in High Risk Environments

This course is intended to help prepare humanitarian aid workers to deal with the critical incidents/high risk situations that occur in the complex and often dangerous locations in which they work. It will equip participants to understand high risk environments and dangerous situations and how they impact your brain functioning, and how to manage your response during and after an incident. Participants will be able to make better decisions when under threat and will be prepared to function in a risk environment.

The course includes activities and exercises designed to facilitate a deeper learning of the concepts presented. Additionally, participants will have access to a resilience workbook (HIRI Workbook) based on the Headington Institute Resilience Inventory. This inventory was developed from over ten years of research on humanitarians and is published in a peer reviewed psychological journal. The workbook is designed to help the participant evaluate their own resilience and develop a plan to strengthen resilience practices and behaviors.

This course will cover:
* Defining stress and stressors
* How the brain responds during a critical incident/high risk situation
* Managing your response during a critical incident/high risk situation
* Long term issues after a critical incident/high risk situation
* Preparation and resilience factors most relevant for critical incidents/high risk situations