Recovery Centres

 Before I say anything about recovery centres, it's probably helpful to start with evacuation centres. When a disaster hits, people are urged to go to their local evacuation centre. This will be a place out of the path of the unfolding disaster. People go with their families, dogs, cats, horses and goats. There is the fear and stress of life and death in the air and evacuation centres have chaplains, security and mental health services all in attendance. Meals are distributed to all comers from emergency kitchens. Most people will find an alternative place to go within 24 hours of arrival but some are there for a lot longer.

Recovery centres open when it is safe and reasonable to get helpers into the region. When the Northern Rivers flooding happened, there was an evacuation centre in the grounds of Southern Cross University. The military, sent in to clean up, were also based at the uni and the recovery centre was in another building so Southern Cross University became a central focus for the recovery effort. Every event plays out differently so I'm not sure if evacuation and recovery centres usually operate side-by-side as they did in Lismore.

When disaster affected people arrive at a recovery centre, they are met by Red Cross volunteers who are trained in mental health first aid and will refer people to mental health support within the centre. They also direct people around the centre, give out "trauma teddies" and colouring books to children and have a range of little things to give out. Things like hand sanitiser, fridge magnets and brochures outlining available resources.

The first agency people should sit down with is Service NSW, which is the state government agency responsible for things like car, boat and truck licences and birth, death or marriage certificates. People will tell their story to Service NSW and their details will be recorded. If they are in need of new ID documents, those will be arranged. In a well resourced centre, a summary sheet will be printed and clients  can present them to all services so that they don't have to endlessly repeat their stories and details. If there are state government grants available, people will be assessed for those. Details will be kept so that if new funding or supports become available, they can be offered to registered people.

If there are federal government grants available, the social security agency (Centrelink) will be there to make assessments and process those grants.

There will be a mix of other services: The Salvation Army and Vinnies do cash relief grants.

I have seen local area health services, Rural Mental Health services and Aboriginal Mental Health Peer Support.

Insurance companies attend the biggest disaster events but are mostly absent from smaller centres.

State government chaplains are often available. 

Government housing representatives may be available to organise emergency housing.

There will often be people from local government who have a specific role: I have met  one who was helping people to get new fencing, there are some who organise people to have help with cleaning or give out information about killing mould or try to find out what can be done better next time. Most recently I met a Rural Financial Counsellor who was using recovery centres as a way to meet local people.

Recovery centres are held in town halls, community halls, church buildings, privately owned clubs and resorts. I have been to one in a marquee in a showground, an arts centre and a few roadside or car park locations. The large government agencies sometimes bring an office in a truck so they are completely self-contained and I have been at a centre where the rural fire service brought their truck with satellite dish to provide internet access for all agencies.

The people staffing recovery centres have usually volunteered to be away from home and can be away for weeks. They are generally administrative type workers without any specific trauma or mental health training but are often highly praised for their compassionate response to victims. In some ways I love that their compassion is acknowledged and in some ways I think there would be something seriously wrong if they weren't careful and caring.

If there's anything I haven't told you, just ask!