What is Psychological First Aid (PFA)?
Psychological First Aid is a concept that
can be traced to an article published by the
American Psychiatric Association in 1954
which acknowledged the need for an acute
intervention to alleviate human stress “of a
severity and quality not generally encountered
… due to the ‘forces of nature or from enemy
attack’.”1 Since that time, many researchers
and health organizations, including the
National Institute of Mental Health,2
the Institute of Medicine,3 and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services,4
have supported the idea that early, brief and
focused intervention can reduce the social
and emotional distress of children and adults
after traumatic events.

This Helpful Hints publication will discuss the
use of PFA in schools, specifically, the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security’s “Listen,
Protect, Connect—Model & Teach” (LPC)
crisis response strategy. It will explore goals
of the strategy, when and how PFA can be
implemented by schools, when PFA should be
implemented—including considerations to keep
in mind when implementing—and the type of
training school staff need to effectively use this
strategy.

This Helpful Hints publication will discuss the
use of PFA in schools, specifically, the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security’s “Listen,
Protect, Connect—Model & Teach” (LPC)
crisis response strategy. It will explore goals
of the strategy, when and how PFA can be
implemented by schools, when PFA should be
implemented—including considerations to keep
in mind when implementing—and the type of
training school staff need to effectively use this
strategy.