Help with Recovery for Residents

Support after the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires

If you are affected by the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires, Blue Mountains City Council on 4723 5000 is the point of contact for all recovery needs.

Whilst the Recovery Team wound up in December 2015, the Council and other key organisations will continue to support you every step of the way through usual business operations. The Blue Mountains Firewatch Facebook site is another source of local information on bushfire safety and support programs that you may wish to link into.

Recovery Hour, Life After Disasters and Emergencies - Podcast

Subscribe to the Recovery Hour, Life After Disasters and Emergencies podcast, with David Younger, Clinical Psychologist. 

This is a serial podcast that provides helpful information about various aspects of emotional and social recovery following a disaster or emergency, be that natural or man-made. It’s aimed at community members who have been exposed to such an experience, but it will also be of benefit to those professionals and volunteers working in emergency response and recovery.

Each episode features a special guest that David will talk to and interview for example, a community member with first hand lived experience, or a professional with a wealth of knowledge drawn from years of assisting and supporting people after disasters and emergencies. Topics such as human reactions and responses to trauma, assisting and supporting others through crisis, community functioning, community recovery, the different pathways of recovery, health and wellbeing, resilience, and growth wiill be explored through conversations.

Coping with Stress after an Emergency - Videos

Watch clinical psychologist Dr Rob Gordon discuss strategies to cope with stress after an emergency, building trust and confidence in your community and learning to trust your own thinking and actions.

Dr Gordon has spent the past 30 years working with people affected by emergencies and disasters.  Rob was there in the aftermath of the Bali bombings and Christchurch earthquake, Black Saturday, the Canberra firestorm and, most recently, the Tasmanian bushfires, as well as many other large-scale disasters.  He has advised the Red Cross and governments on how to assist individual people and whole communities as they rebuild and recover.  His first-hand experience has helped many people affected by disasters to understand their reactions to trauma and grief, while his academic papers have contributed to new approaches to community engagement during the critical stages of recovery.