Forging, protecting, and repairing community resilience informed by the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires

Natural disasters are inherently traumatic. The unexpected, unpredictable, threatening, and overwhelming nature of these events can be destabilising and distressing, potentially leading to psychological trauma (Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, 2014). Psychological trauma encompasses how people respond to physical and psychological events that involve actual or life-threatening situations resulting in an intense fear of helplessness (Flannery, 2015). Yet, the experience of psychological trauma is not inevitable, and indeed much can be done to ‘trauma-proof’ communities and the many emergency service personnel who respond to such events.