Reach Out for Wellness
Promoting wellness in the Extension community after natural disasters.
Promoting wellness in the Extension community after natural disasters.
Reach Out for Wellness is an online toolkit designed to support the mental health needs of Extension professionals following natural disasters. We invite you to use these research-based tools to help you better understand your wellness, learn strategies to improve it and seek help from your support system.
The goals of the Reach Out for Wellness program are to help you:
Extension professionals are often frontline caregivers in times of crisis. They provide vital assistance to communities during natural disaster response and recovery.
After a disaster fades from the headlines, Extension professionals continue to be a lifeline for those struggling to cope with devastating financial, material and personal losses. Exposure to such hardship often leads survivors to experience extreme stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety.
Extension community members are at risk for the same trauma and mental health challenges — and may lack the resources to address them. This toolkit is for you.
Reach Out for Wellness is focused on improving your mental health, which is supported by your overall wellness. The term “wellness” takes into account several dimensions of an individual’s overall health.
You and others working on the frontlines after a natural disaster carry a heavy load — but you don’t have to carry it alone.