FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: March 19, 2003
Contact: Helen Mitternight
(202) 336-5898

APA OFFERS MATERIALS THAT BUILD RESILIENCE IN A TIME OF WAR FOR ADULTS AND CHILDREN

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 19, 2003 -- The American Psychological Association (APA) announced today that it is offering materials free to the public that can help people build resilience in a time of war.

"We're already getting a demand for these materials created by the anxiety people are feeling about what's happening in the world right now," said Russ Newman, Ph.D., J.D., executive director for professional practice at the APA. "Based on the reaction to the original resilience materials we produced, we think these war-themed materials will do a lot of good."

The resilience materials are an outgrowth of APA's successful Road to Resilience campaign that was launched in response to September 11, 2001. More than 78,000 Road to Resilience brochures have been requested since that time, along with more than 1,300 "toolkits" that practicing psychologists who are members of APA use to help their clients and communities build resilience skills.

"Unlike one-time traumas, war requires its own kind of resilience because we don't know when a war will end, and - especially in this war - terrorism has brought war closer to home than ever before," Newman said.

The materials include brochures aimed at consumers, parents and teachers of very young children, parents and teachers of elementary school children, parents and teachers of middle school children, parents and teachers of highschoolers, and teens.

Some of the tips include:

"We've been hearing about the items we need to stockpile in our emergency kit," Newman said. "The skills of resilience should be in your psychological toolkit to help you bounce back in a time of war."

The materials will soon be available in print by calling toll-free 1-800-964-2000 and are available now for free download at http://helping.apa.org/resilience/war.html .

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