Roles and responsibilities of responders

Question Description: Critical incident responders come from a variety of fields. Rescue workers (e.g., police, firefighters, emergency medical professionals) are often the first-line responders. However, the helping professionals and volunteers from emergency response organizations are often just behind the first-line responders, allocating resources, assessing situations, and addressing mental health needs of survivors.

Practitioners respond to a variety of critical incidents, such as natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes); human-made disasters (e.g., oil spills and chemical accidents); acts of terrorism (e.g., the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11); crises (e.g., job loss or surviving an airplane crash); as well as other trauma-causing events (e.g., childhood abuse, war, and hostage situations). The roles and responsibilities of responders vary, depending on the specifics of each situation. A helping professional responds differently when working with a natural disaster survivor than he or she would when working with a sexual abuse survivor. In this Discussion, you compare the different roles and responsibilities of responders when responding to various critical incidents.