WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Forest Service and Department of the Interior continue to work collaboratively to support employees who have responded to Hurricane Helene or Milton.

As individuals return from hurricane response assignment(s), we encourage you to review the information and resources available on the Hurricane Responder Support website, which has been established to serve as a resource hub for employees who have been assigned to hurricane response. This site is being updated with additional resources as they become available. 

Drop-in webinars on disaster responder mental health
The Federal Wildland Firefighter Health and Wellbeing Program is hosting a series of webinars on post-disaster response to help develop and strengthen psychological endurance to help prevent potential impacts of disaster response. These webinars are open to Forest Service and Interior employees who served in a role supporting Hurricanes Milton or Helene.

During these drop-in webinar sessions, we will address common reactions following disaster response, ways of recognizing stress and tips for effective coping, and provide information on resources. Both sessions below will cover the same content. 

If you are unable to attended either of these sessions, additional sessions will be offered. If you would like to receive periodic updates on mental health support resources for hurricane responders, please sign up.

• Webinar Session 1 (gov device access only)

  • Nov. 12 - 1300 ET/1100 MT/1000 PT

• Webinar Session 2 (gov device access only)

  • Nov. 21 - 1600 ET/1400 MT/1300 PT 

• (New) Webinar Session 3 (gov device access only)

  • Dec. 5 - 4:00 pm ET / 2:00 pm MT / 1:00 pm PT 

• (New) Webinar Session 4 (gov device access only)

  • Dec. 19 - 4:00 pm ET / 2:00 pm MT / 1:00 pm PT 

Mental health self-assessments
One way to track your reactions after returning from disaster response work is to take an anonymous self-assessment of mental health symptoms. It’s important to note that these symptom screeners do not provide a diagnosis of any mental health condition. The results can be helpful to understand the intensity of potential symptoms and to monitor over time. Sharing the results of your assessment with a healthcare provider can be a great way to start the conversation about mental health.

• Post Traumatic Stress test

• Anxiety test

• Depression test

• Addiction test

Please note that these mental health screeners are anonymous, but they do ask for voluntary information about demographics and other contextual information at the end of each test. You can choose to skip these questions and score the test without sharing any additional information about yourself.