Dr. Judith Kulig

Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Lethbridge, Alberta

Psychological Health Post-Disaster: Directions from our Wildfire Research

Our wildfire research program focused on four wildfires: Mallard Fire, Sask (1999), Lost Creek Fire, Alberta (2003), McLure Fire, BC (2003), and Slave Lake, Alberta (2011). We conducted research after each of these wildfires to identify factors influencing community resilience and to investigate individual coping strategies for dealing with the events and their aftermath. This presentation highlights findings in relation to children families, individuals, and communities; including PTSD, cohesion, and resilience, and the inter-relations among these three conditions. Implications for disaster preparation and recovery will also be discussed.

This talk is being sponsored by the Department of Psychology, the School of Nursing, and the School of Health Sciences.