SAMHSA: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

The National Center's involvement in disaster mental health also began with a consultation early in the Center' history. The Center was only a few months old when staff were called in to assist in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta, CA, earthquake in 1989. It was at this point that staff members were first introduced to officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Public Health Service, the Red Cross, and other disaster response agencies.

Since then the Center has been among the first agencies called upon in times of crisis, including the terrorist attacks in Oklahoma City in 1995 and New York and Washington in 2001, and natural disasters from Hurricane Andrew in 1992 to Katrina in 2005. Much of the National Center's current work is supported through an interagency agreement with SAMHSA on best practices after disaster.