The disaster survivors we have aided have vigorously sought the answers to numerous questions such as: “I’m so afraid. How will I survive?” “Where do I go for help?” “What can I do?” “How do I care for my children?” Our guide answers these questions and more. Resiliency.… condenses the essential collective knowledge in the fields of disaster mental health, emergency management, and public health.

Our work has taught us to recognize the key human resources that make a difference in the ways trauma victims recover and bounce back to resume their lives. In Resiliency.… we share what we have learned to help you use your own strength in the face of disaster and terrorism.

Read Resiliency . . . to learn:
-10 Things to Do to Survive
-26 Ways to care for your children
-25 Reasons for doing numbers 1 to 9 
-8 Things not to say to disaster victims
-7 Methods of “FEAR NOT” – the mnemonic for fear management
-6 Things to say to support disaster victims
-6 Phases of a disaster
-4 Emergency management phases
-4 Phases of how a community reacts to a disaster
-4 R’s for assisting seniors
-4 Procedures for fires
-3 Elements of preparedness
-2 Procedures for collapsed victims

And how to prevent and prepare, the multiple ways that we react to disasters, when to get help, where to get help, how to help yourself, and how to help others. 

Plus
-the typical sequence of an emergency response
-when to shelter in place vs. when to evacuate
-when the need for decontamination overrides the need for privacy
-the availability of disaster grants, loans and funded services
-how to decide whether to accept crisis counseling 
-how to best donate to disaster relief agencies
-how to be a more effective disaster volunteer

Learn the basic things to do for any crisis or disaster 

In the aftermath of 9/11, the duo was driven to sustain the mental health of those affected by the tragedies. Both served as crisis counselors for employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  Dr. Napoli also directed the crisis counseling operation for the staff of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, New Jersey. He personally provided outreach disaster mental health services for the Port Authority Police Department, MSNBC, CNBC, and the families of the victims of Flight 93.

Deeply affected by the 9/11 disaster, Dr. Kehayan and Dr. Napoli developed a course entitled “Disaster Psychiatry:  Terrorism, Trauma, and Things to Do” which they present annually at the meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA.)  Several years after the tragic event, they created Resiliency in the Face of Disaster and Terrorism:  10 Things to Do to Survive (Personhood Press, October 2005, $14.95), a guide on how to prevent, react to, and cope with disasters in the home and in the world. 

Dr. Kehayan is an educator, clinical psychologist, and well-established author of three books, numerous articles, and professional training manuals.  He has a private practice in Northern New Jersey specializing in anxiety.  He serves Co-Chair of Professional Development Committee of the National Association of Peer Programs.

Dr. Kehayan received his BA from Gettysburg College, Teacher Certification from the City University of New York, and Doctorate in School Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

Furthermore, he is Director of Edu-Psych, Inc., a network providing professional training workshops and educational program development to government agencies, emergency management organizations, healthcare facilities, and school systems.   As Deputy Chief of the Crisis Response Team of the Fort Lee (NJ) Office of Emergency Management, Dr. Kehayan provides leadership and training for the team’s mental health professionals, clergy, and peer counselors, ensuring that the community is equipped with the necessary tools to remain mentally healthy during times of tragedy or disaster.

An active member of the National Association of Peer Programs, Dr. Kehayan serves as the Professional Development Committee Co-Chair and received the Scholar of the Year Award in 2003. Dr. Kehayan lives with his wife, Carolyn, a Learning Consultant and Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities at Felician College and his son, Cary, a high school senior.

Dr. Napoli, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), is a clinician, educator, author, and administrator. He specializes in disaster psychiatry, traumatic stress, and posttraumatic stress disorders. He and his wife Loretta, who edited Resiliency in the Face of Disaster and Terrorism: 10 Things to Do to Survive, have two daughters – Gina, the Director of Development for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and Laura, a professional actress.

After graduating from St. Peter’s Preparatory School, Jersey City, New Jersey, Dr. Napoli completed his under -graduate education at Fordham College. He received his medical degree at Georgetown Medical School and did his postgraduate training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in pediatrics, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis.

As an educator, he has designed and conducted many courses, conferences, and workshops. He has presented numerous lectures to a variety of professional audiences and the general public. As an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, he teaches emergency psychiatry and posttraumatic stress disorders to medical students. The American Psychiatric Association awarded him with the Nancy C. A. Roeske, M.D. Certificate of Excellence “in recognition of outstanding and sustained contributions to medical student education.”               

Dr. Napoli has authored articles and contributed to the books Conquering Chronic Pain After Injury: An Integrative Approach to Treating Post-traumatic Pain and Disaster Psychiatry: Intervening When Nightmares Come True. He has written various educational materials for the general public on trauma. His Generic Manual for Crisis Response Teams has been adapted for use by the Fort Lee OEM.
        
In addition to being a former volunteer firefighter, he was active for many years as a volunteer member of the Community Crisis Response Team in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where his private practice is located. He is a Disaster Mental Health Services volunteer for the Bergen-Hudson Chapter of the American Red Cross. Since 1998, as the Chairperson of its Disaster Preparedness Committee, he has led the development of a statewide disaster psychiatry program for the New Jersey Psychiatric Association (NJPA), a District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association. The Assembly of the APA commended NJPA for “exemplary service rendered in response to the attack on America, September 11, 2001.” In 2003, he received the APA Bruno Lima Award that recognizes outstanding contributions to the care and understanding of the victims of disasters.

On 9/11, he directed the crisis counseling operation for the staff and the emergency department at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center (Englewood, New Jersey) where he is a member of the Medical Staff. As Chief of the Crisis Response Team for the Fort Lee Office of Emergency Management, he directed disaster mental health services in response to 9/11. He personally provided outreach disaster mental health services for the personnel of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Port Authority Police Department, MSNBC, CNBC, and the families of the victims of Flight 93. The New Jersey Emergency Management Association honored him with its Humanitarian Award for his dedicated service and volunteerism, especially during the aftermath of 9/11.

He has appeared on CBS Network News, CNBC and in New Jersey on Channel 10, Channel 12, Channel 63, and NJN TV News. He has been interviewed on the radio including WINS 1010 and WVOX. He has been quoted or featured in articles in various newspapers including the Atlantic City Press, The Record, The Star Ledger, and The Times (Trenton, New Jersey).
        
Most recently, he was a consultant for and appears in the film People with Serious Mental Illness at Times of Disaster: A Focus on Caregivers, narrated by Emmy Award winning actress Mariette Hartley. He was a member of the Emergency Preparedness / Trauma Advisory Committee for New Jersey Acting Governor Richard Codey’s Task Force on Mental Health. Dr. Napoli also participated in TOPOFF 3, a national exercise for homeland security preparedness. He is President Elect of the New Jersey Psychiatric Association.

“This is a much needed inclusive book. I’ve never seen all this material in one place. The authors are really to be commended for what I know was an enormous effort in putting this all together in such a readable and useful way. Good Show!!!!”      
—Diana Brown, LCSW, BCD, Disaster Mental Health Specialist

“Preparedness is our cheapest insurance policy. This is a really great guide for the public to use to be prepared and remain ready. It will certainly assist us in emergency management in our work to educate the public about the basics of disaster survival.”   
—Joseph J. Licata, CEM, Coordinator, Fort Lee Office of Emergency Management

“This book is a tool to motivate action. It stirred up my adrenalin and shocked my complacency about my own security, realizing how much I need to learn, get, and do. The practical guidance, such as learning to use a fire extinguisher, mingled with the wisdom of helping with the emotional impact of disasters make this a valuable resource for survival in the world we now live in. The comprehensive coverage and depth of information makes this an essential book for everyone concerned about the safety of their families, homes, schools and communities.”
—Barbara Varenhorst, Ph.D., Counseling Psychologist, Author, and Specialist in Resiliency and Asset Building

“This excellent handbook provides clear guidelines to assist response to the impact of terrorism and disaster.  Its focus on resilience and 10 actions to promote resilience in the face of adversity provide a strong basis for both prevention of adverse outcomes and mitigation of impacts.  Its emphasis on information, knowledge, recognition and understanding of one’s own and others’ reactions, and its suggested actions to help the self and others, makes it an invaluable resource. 
I would most strongly recommend it as an essential tool to the understanding of our response to disasters and terrorism, one which is instantly accessible to the broader community, to all those who may be affected.” 
—Beverley Raphael, M.D. Professor and Director, Mental Health Services
New South Wales Health Department, Sydney, NSW

“The analysis of resiliency in relation to catastrophic trauma has assumed center stage in the field of traumatic stress studies. Worldwide events, such as terrorism and tsunamis, have made it clear that posttraumatic stress disorders and resilient coping behavior are psychological twins that require careful and thoughtful attention.  Resiliency in the Face of Disaster and Terrorism is a new book that lays out an incredibly useful set of practical things to do in real life situations. Unlike purely academic books or journal reviews, this book is a "hands on" how to do it guide which contains a wealth of information in a most compact and readable form that will be required reading for first responders, medical and mental health specialists, and those concerned with critical incident debriefings. This is a must have reference volume.” 
—John P. Wilson, Ph.D Professor and Fulbright Scholar Cleveland State University

Disaster: No Longer “If”, but “When” …And Then…. 
For many years before 9/11/2001, I was involved with disaster mental health response in New York City.  But each event, the World Trade Bombing of 1993, the TWA 800, Delta and Swiss Air plane crashes, the Times Square crane crash all seemed discrete events.  And, they occurred far enough apart time wise from each other not to shatter our sense of security.   
But 9/11/2001 changed all that forever.  Since that day, as a nation, we began to live each day surrounded by and cocooned within an edge of fear.  What will “they” do next?” “When will it happen?”        
I live in Rockaway Park, NY, steps from the Atlantic Ocean, two blocks away from the section of Jamaica Bay which overlooks lower Manhattan.  As I was driving to work on 9/11/2001, I watched the Twin Towers burn.  Barely two months later, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed less than a mile from my home.  I never got to a place so fast, running to help my neighbors in anyway I could.    
Having gotten almost, but not quite, used to such disasters, we have, in recent months, begun to experience the “terrorism” of nature. First, hurricanes killed people and destroyed neighborhoods in New Orleans, Louisiana, Alabama.  In October, record rainfalls inundated New York City.  And in November, further hurricanes hit Florida, while tornadoes swirled through Kentucky and Indiana.  For the first time in its hundred year history, the Red Cross ran out of money for disaster relief.    
Some of us are surprised to learn that disasters, whether caused by other human beings or by the vicissitudes of nature do not affect only Third World countries and far away places.  But now we ask, not only what will “they, the terrorists” do next, but “what will the very earth on which we live do to us?”  And, what can we, individuals and groups of individuals, do to survive, physically, emotionally and spiritually, the threats, internal and external, that each day remind us of our vulnerability? 
This book cannot make us safe, but its authors do an excellent job of helping us to prepare ourselves, our homes and our loved ones for what we might someday face.  It can help us become…resilient. 
When I was asked by a friend to review this book, written by colleagues of his, I felt myself growing anxious.  What if I didn’t like it?  What if it were another of those generic self –help “cookbooks” that speak to everyone and address the real issues, fears challenges of no one?  To my happy surprise, I discovered a “safe-making” book, filled with practical, reasonable, reflective and workable suggestions and examples.  It is grounded in a strong psychological understanding of the fears, reactions, responses, strengths and needs of people affected by disasters and tragedies-both personal and more wide-ranged.  In ten succinct chapters and further appendices, the authors unfold clear guidelines and practical, “real life relevant” suggestions of ways to prepare for disasters that might occur.  And, from my perspective, most importantly, they take a gentle and compassionate look at both the people who are experiencing the disaster, as well as at those who join to help them.  The end result is a work that companions with people, always affirming, encouraging, calling forth and enhancing our innate resilience, our ability to bounce back from and move forward through life-changing events. 
Philosopher Albert Camus wrote (and I paraphrase) “in the midst of winter, I discovered within myself an invincible summer.”  As I was preparing this review, I happened across a short article in the August 2005 issue of National Geographic.  On 9/11/2001, a huge, ancient sycamore tree in the yard of St. Paul’s Chapel, across the street from the World Trade Center, was destroyed, but the Chapel suffered no damage and served for many months after 9/11 as a respite center.  A sculptor, Steve Tobin, took the roots and stump of the tree and has transformed it into an 18 foot high, 23 foot wide bronze sculpture.  He is returning it to St. Paul’s, and will be dedicating it as a tribute to N.Y. and to the resilience of its people. 
Drs. Kehayan and Napoli have added their expertise, in their own way creating a guide and dedication to the resilience of the human spirit. 
—Patricia M. Berliner, CSJ, Ph.D.