Pediatric Disaster Behavioral Health (PDBH) Toolbox
3. The Toolbox - Implementation & Tactical Resources
3.12. Disaster Behavioral Health Response Teams - Overview & Structures
In practice, children's hospitals, response organizations (governmental and non-governmental), and community partners usually adapt one or more general disaster behavioral health team structures. These can be mapped to the PDBH Framework’s core functions: coordination, situational awareness, care, and education/technical assistance.
Shared features across most disaster behavioral health response teams:
- Activation and deployment process with clear triggers, ordering authority, and reporting relationship to facility or local incident management.
- Typical deployment settings include shelters, family assistance centers, hospitals/emergency departments, schools and other child-serving sites, community recovery hubs, faith/community locations, hotlines or virtual outreach, and responder/staff support areas.
- Most teams focus on rapid assessment, brief supportive interventions (often Psychological First Aid or similar early support), education, and referral rather than long-term therapy. Others take a broader role to coordinate community response and recovery efforts – these are frequently associated with an organization with formal response authority.
- Staffing blends operational leadership and behavioral health expertise; qualifications vary by model and may include licensed clinicians, social work/case management, chaplaincy/spiritual care, outreach or peer staff, communications, and data/planning support.
- Core tasks usually include situational awareness, triage and referral, public messaging/education, and support to survivors, families, staff, and responders.
- Pediatric adaptations are essential: developmentally appropriate communication, caregiver support, family reunification, school/childcare coordination, safeguarding/unaccompanied minor issues, and linkage to pediatric/community behavioral health services.
- Documentation, handoff, referral tracking, and demobilization planning should be built in from the start.
| ICS/HICS-integrated disaster behavioral health operational team | |
|---|---|
| Team structure |
|
| Purpose/scope and typical structure |
Best fit: When a children’s hospital, health system, or jurisdiction needs to lead or coordinate a broader pediatric disaster behavioral health mission. Typical structure: Organized as an ICS-aligned organization such as a branch, group, unit, task force, or technical specialist function; commonly linked to EOC, ESF/RSF, and community partners. |
| Staffing/qualifications and key functions |
Staffing: Incident lead with emergency management/ICS experience plus pediatric behavioral health SME(s); may include planning/situational awareness, care operations, education/technical assistance, liaison, and public information support. Key functions: Sets objectives, requests resources, coordinates internal/external partners, supports family reunification and other affected operations, and links hospital actions with community response and recovery structures. |
| Examples / learn more | |
| Behavioral health coordination / coalition / recovery groups | |
|---|---|
| Team structure |
|
| Purpose/scope and typical structure |
Best fit: Prolonged, large-scale, or geographically broad incidents where multiple systems must move together. Typical structure: Usually sits in public health, emergency management, nonprofit coalitions, or a regional health care ecosystem and may oversee sub-functions for impact/capacity assessment, guidance, communications, and operations. |
| Staffing/qualifications and key functions |
Staffing: Behavioral health SMEs, epidemiology/data staff, emergency managers, communications/PIO leads, policy or systems partners, and liaison roles. Key functions: Produces situation reports/forecasts, aligns messaging and guidance, coordinates capacity expansion, and helps synchronize child-serving systems such as health care, schools, public health, and community organizations. |
| Examples / learn more | |
| Behavioral Health Strike Team (BHST) / mobile response team | |
|---|---|
| Team structure |
|
| Purpose/scope and typical structure |
Best fit: Rapid field deployment when local capacity is exceeded or a specific site needs support. Typical structure: Often state-, regional-, or large-system-led and integrated into local incident command; common deployment sites include shelters, family assistance centers, schools, hospitals, and community gathering spaces. Often organized in a Strike Team structure if activated within ICS/HICS. |
| Staffing/qualifications and key functions |
Staffing: Usually, a mix of licensed behavioral health clinicians with social work/case management, chaplaincy/spiritual care, and other trained responders. Formal resource-typing models also exist. Key functions: Rapid needs assessment, brief support/PFA, responder support, triage and referral, and early identification of pediatric/family needs. When requesting external teams, specify child/family expertise, translation needs, and age-specific services up front. |
| Examples / learn more | |
| Volunteer disaster mental health / reserve corps team | |
|---|---|
| Team structure |
|
| Purpose/scope and typical structure |
Best fit: Surge augmentation of local systems using trained volunteers and reserve personnel. Typical structure: Organized through NGOs or Medical Reserve Corps programs and activated locally or regionally; often paired with sheltering, family assistance, community outreach, or responder support missions. |
| Staffing/qualifications and key functions |
Staffing: Depending on model, may include licensed mental health professionals, social workers, graduate trainees, and/or trained non-clinical volunteers with required onboarding and response training. Key functions: Supportive contacts, shelter/Family Assistance Center support, responder support, education, screening for higher-risk needs, and referral. This model can also help build a pediatric volunteer pipeline before disasters occur. |
| Examples / learn more | |
| Crisis Counseling Program (CCP) teams | |
|---|---|
| Team structure |
|
| Purpose/scope and typical structure |
Best fit: Short-term, community-based disaster recovery after eligible presidential declarations. Typical structure: Implemented through SAMHSA/FEMA-supported state, territorial, or tribal grants and local provider agencies; designed for broad population outreach and support rather than clinic-based treatment. |
| Staffing/qualifications and key functions |
Staffing: Crisis counselors, supervisors, outreach workers, peer staff, and partner agencies; licensed staff may supervise or backstop care. Key functions: Community-based outreach, brief crisis counseling, public education, group/community support, resource linkage, and referral. Particularly useful when pediatric/family stress is widespread across the community during recovery. |
| Examples / learn more | |
Practical pediatric planning note
- Many incidents combine more than one model - for example, an ICS/HICS group within a facility, a field strike team for on-scene support, and a coalition model for sustained recovery work.
- Deployed teams are usually most effective when paired with an existing local pediatric referral network (children’s hospital, pediatric primary care, school mental health, community behavioral health, telehealth, and family support resources).