Il dialogo tra le istituzioni: come lo psicologo dell’emergenza facilita la comunicazione tra la popolazione e i sistemi

• Main Authors: Benedetta Giacomozzi, Ingrid Tere Powell, Gina Riccio
• Format: Article
• Language: Italian
• Published: Psicologi per i Popoli : Federazione 2020-11-01
• Series: Rivista di Psicologia dell'Emergenza e dell'Assistenza Umanitaria
• Subjects: communication; maxi emergency; population; rescuers; emergency psychologists
• Online Access: http://www.psicologiperipopoli.it/files/Numero%2022%2024-39.pdf

In a maxi-emergency like an earthquake, the emergency psychologist can facili-tate the dialogue within institutions and communities (Giacomozzi et al., 2017). Difficulty of communication between institutions and population can create a frac-ture: therefore, it becomes important to weave a dialogue that enhances media-tion processes as well as the construction of an adaptive system – which can be built through the integration between the natural system (population) and the ex-pert system (rescuers). Following the concept of “Caring Niche” (Axia et al., 2004), we share our experiences during the maxi-emergency of the 2016’s earthquake in Amatrice. On the 24th of August 2016, the activation of our association, Psicologi per i Popoli – Trentino ODV, took place differently than usual: our involvement was inside a “technical field”, where different professional groups – such as brigades of the fire, engineers, territorial technicians, psychologists – alternated and coop-erated (see Sphere, 2018). After an initial phase of scouting within the camp, our work expanded outside the camp, mainly on three fronts: with school (parents, students, teachers, managers and representatives of Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca / MIUR), with the population directly affected by the earthquake and finally with Civil Protection technicians and volunteers. The emer-gency psychologist became a facilitator of communication between the needs of the population and those of the rescue systems (Giacomozzi et al., 2017; Anton-ello e Viejo, 2013).