The Family Assistance Education & Research Foundation (FAERF) has been at the forefront of the evolution of emergency management, combining the head-heart approach for a fully integrated response to survivors of traumatic loss. Practicing consciousness in the workplace involves caring for people first, without exception.
Raising Compassion Consciousness through Educational Programs
Written by: Carolyn V. Coarsey, Ph.D.
January 2024
“The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
-Albert Einstein
Since FAERF was founded in 2000, we have seen tremendous improvements in how business and industrial organizations respond to survivors when a tragedy occurs in their workplace where employees, customers, and families are injured or killed. From the beginning of our work, we wanted leaders in the business world to think of survivors with compassion and respond to them as if it was their own family at risk. Education influences the way people think. Therefore, in the upcoming year, FAERF will continue to host and sponsor educational programs for members and non-members in numerous ways. In 2024, those members who are earning the I-HARP™ Certificate will be offered multiple ways of earning credit in addition to completing distance learning modules at an individual’s pace. Read on to learn more about our plans to educate, educate, and educate in the upcoming twelve months and beyond!
Members
Member-Partner Meetings
Member-partner meetings are planned in two locations later this fall. In Houston, TX, September 24-25, Foundation member Equinor of the energy sector will host our first meeting featuring survivors and employee responders of crises in the oil and gas industry.
October 23-24, Air Evacuation International (AEI) will co-sponsor our Air, Land, and Sea Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where survivors and employee responders of the transportation industry will present various responses. Details and names of speakers for both meetings are forthcoming and will be featured on faerf.org.
Members who attend will be able to earn credit toward the HARP™ Certificate for attending meetings, as well as complete two of the modules toward the certificate during lunch on both days. Those who cannot attend will be offered the same opportunity over webinars following the meetings. More information will follow as registration for the meetings opens.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
FAERF will continue certifying Mental Health First Aiders by offering virtual and in-person classes. MHFA training will be conducted in conjunction with each Member-Partner Meeting, as well as other times to be announced in future flyers and the newsletter. Classes for individual corporate members are also available.
Our Summer Webinar Series will commence in June, where members can earn credit toward the I-HARP™ Certificate by attending and completing a short survey at the end of the hour. Topics will represent the latest interviews with survivors, HSR™ practitioners, and subject matter experts on timely discussions of humanitarian assistance response.
Updates for Certified Trainers
Late in the year, Certified Human Services Response™ Trainers will be invited to attend regular updates with Carolyn in a webinar format where we look at the Myths of Coping with Traumatic Loss and other topics where research continues to shine light on areas that are often based on myth that has been carried over from past learning. Most of which was not based on sound research but on individual opinion.
Non-Members
While corporate memberships drive FAERF’s efforts in education and research in the field of Humanitarian Assistance Response™, in 2024, we recognize that not everyone can join our mission or support us with membership. Therefore, we will continue to provide the public with monthly articles highlighting interviews with survivors, responders, and subject matter experts to help everyone with their education in this field.
Newsletters will continue to be available to all interested in this field, where educational articles and book recommendations will be featured. Also, FAERF regularly posts information related to the field of Humanitarian Assistance Response – follow us on LinkedIn (January 31 will feature a post honoring families of Alaska Flight 261, which crashed on Jan 31, 2000).
For information on joining FAERF or learning about any of our upcoming programs, contact kristine.budaha@aviem.com
Be sure to check FAERF.org for the latest information on upcoming events.