TABLE 1—

Psychological First Aid Core Actions

Action	Goal
Contact and engagement	Responding to contacts initiated by survivors or initiating contacts in a nonintrusive, compassionate, and helpful manner
Provision of safety and comfort	Enhancing immediate and ongoing safety and providing physical and emotional comfort
Stabilization (if needed)	Calming and orienting emotionally overwhelmed or disoriented survivors
Information gathering: current needs and concerns	Identifying immediate needs and concerns, gathering additional information, and tailoring psychological first aid interventions
Practical assistance	Offering practical help to survivors in addressing immediate needs and concerns
Connections with social support networks	Helping establish brief or ongoing contact with sources of primary support and other sources of support, including family members, friends, and community helping resources
Provision of information on coping	Providing information about stress reactions and coping to reduce distress and promote adaptive functioning
Linkage with collaborative services	Linking survivors with available services needed at the time or in the future

Note. Information was derived from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.²