"The Crisis Counseling Program provides supplemental funding to States for short-term crisis counseling services to victims of Presidentially declared disasters. The Crisis Counseling Program includes a training component for direct service staff and other disaster service workers to ensure that appropriate services are provided to the community. Published in 1978, this training manual was the first publication to originate from the program. The primary purpose of this edition is to provide an overview of substantive concepts to assist mental health administrators, planners, and trainers in developing the training component of crisis counseling projects. [...] This manual introduces the trainer to the Crisis Counseling Program model, the scope and limits of the program, and elements required for effective service design and delivery. The manual details specific guidelines on how disasters affect children, adults, and older adults, the importance of tailoring the program to fit the community, descriptions of effective disaster mental health intervention, and strategies for preventing and managing worker stress. It also includes a comprehensive training course (Section 6) with eleven different activities which can be modified to the phase of the disaster response and tailored to current and anticipated needs of the community and program staff."