Abstract:

The current COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need of preparation of the population for self-protection as well as preparation of the crisis management professionals in the crisis intervention field. The topic of the population preparedness and the crisis intervention concerns also other crisis events such as disasters, man-made incidents or accidents, nevertheless poor attention was paid to this topic within education system in the Slovak Republic in the last years. The general population and mainly rescue workers, psychologists, crisis interventions, social workers, teachers are need to be trained in crisis intervention activities (with an emphasis on the psychological first aid) to be able to manage impacts of the future crisis events. The main focus of the paper is to point out the possibilities of education in the field of crisis intervention, psychological first aid in particular. The aim on this education are assumed to be: professionals, volunteers and the general population. In this paper we trying to bring together theoretical knowledge and practical experience from the crisis intervention field, we discuss the possibilities of using various forms and methods of experiential teaching, and we emphasise the possibilities of using information systems to support these activities.

Keywords:

Crisis Intervention, Psychological First Aid, Education, Crisis Event, Disasters, Crisis Manager, Population.