Phases of Recovery
Life, particularly after a disaster, rarely follows a neat and fixed plan. Yet it’s been useful for mental health professionals to identify phases of disaster recovery within communities. Unlike Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s stages of grief, these phases are not fixed - communities may move through them at different paces and even skip some. Anniversaries, weather events (such as heavy rain), or the smell of smoke can make many revert back to an earlier stage.
The phases of recovery provide those working in the community, health and reconstruction services useful insights into a community that’s suffered. They help others comprehend the challenges and needs of their fellow Australians.
Life can turn in an instant. When a flood, fire or cyclone hits suddenly and dramatically, everything is reduced to one basic instinct. Survival. The heroic phase occurs at the time of impact of a disaster and the period immediately after.more Heroic
From about a week to up to six months after a disaster there’s a powerful sense of community. Survivors may be suffering shock and grief but they are buoyed by feelings of gratitude for having lived and for the overwhelming help they’ve received.more Honeymoon
A couple of months after a disaster, a community can feel massively let down. The cameras and volunteers have left; as have outside agencies such as the army and the Police. The clean up is over and yet the rebuilding is unlikely to have begun.more Disillusionment
After about a year the environment and community begin to recover. Major building begins and the land sprouts regrowth and renewal. Communities begin to feel strengthened and many people will now feel more capable of taking control.more Rebuilding