ABSTRACT
Counseling professionals have increased their involvement in providing services in the wake of crisis and natural disasters given the uptick in natural disasters over the past several decades with an average death toll of 90,000 people each year. Whatever the reason, it seems that natural disasters are on rise and this makes it more likely that professional counselors will be joining the ranks as responders to crises such as these. This chapter reviews historical natural disasters in the United States, and provides an overview of counseling survivors of natural disasters, and what the professional counselor know before signing up for tour of duty. It also reviews historical natural disasters in the United States and provided an overview of counseling survivors of natural disasters and what the professional counselor must know before participating in relief efforts. Training in Psychological First Aid and/or Disaster Mental Health, and being trauma-informed counselor, provides the educational foundations for assisting in a natural disaster-caused crisis.
