| Course | MSW 521 Social Work Response to Mass Violence and Disasters |
|---|---|
| Week | 3 |
| Paper type | Activation checklist |
| Length | About 530 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 521 Week 3
Disaster Behavioral Health Activation Checklist for the Fictional Tamarack County Human Services Department: Who May Declare, the Words That Activate, Steps With Roles, Triggers and Clock Targets, and How to Stand Down
Student Name
Chamberlain University
MSW 521: Social Work Response to Mass Violence and Disasters
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Disaster Behavioral Health Activation Checklist for the Fictional Tamarack County Human Services Department: Who May Declare, the Words That Activate, Steps With Roles, Triggers and Clock Targets, and How to Stand Down
Activation Statement
This checklist applies to any event in Tamarack County with five or more deaths, twenty or more hospitalized, fifty or more residents displaced, or a request from the county emergency manager. The behavioral health director, or the on-call supervisor if the director cannot be reached in 15 minutes, may declare activation. The words that activate the checklist are: "Disaster behavioral health activation, level two." Staff respond to those words and no others.
Steps
Table 1
Activation Steps
| Step | Action | Role | Trigger | Clock target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Declare activation by phone to the on-call list | Director or on-call supervisor | Event meets criteria | Within 15 minutes of notice |
| 2 | Send group text: report location, time and role | On-call supervisor | Step 1 | Within 20 minutes |
| 3 | Confirm staff availability; record names and hours | Duty officer | Replies to step 2 | Within 45 minutes |
| 4 | Send two staff to the shelter with psychological first aid kits | Duty officer | Shelter opened | Arrive within 90 minutes |
| 5 | Assign one liaison to the emergency operations center | Director | Operations center opened | Within 2 hours |
| 6 | Staff the family assistance center: one supervisor, four staff per shift | Duty officer | Center opened | Before doors open |
| 7 | Open a staff log: who, where, start and end times | Supervisor at each site | First staff arrive | Start of each shift |
| 8 | Brief staff on psychological first aid and on what not to say | Site supervisor | Each shift start | First 15 minutes of shift |
| 9 | Schedule shift handover with written notes | Site supervisor | End of shift | Last 30 minutes |
| 10 | Arrange staff check-in after each shift | Director | End of first shift | Within 24 hours |
Note. Note. Psychological first aid follows the field operations guide in use by the department.
When the Phone Rings Out
If the director does not answer within 15 minutes, the on-call supervisor declares. If neither answers within 30 minutes, the county emergency manager may declare on the department's behalf. If fewer than six staff confirm in 45 minutes, the duty officer requests mutual aid from the neighboring county.
First Hour, First Shift
In the first hour, the department's only goals are to put trained staff where survivors are and to log who is where. Staff offer psychological first aid: contact, safety, comfort and practical help, not debriefing (Brymer et al., 2006). The aims are to promote safety, calming, a sense of efficacy, connectedness and hope (Hobfoll et al., 2007).
Standing Down
The director stands down when the shelter has closed, the family assistance center has closed or moved to a recovery center and no new requests have come for 48 hours. Every staff member receives a check-in within one week of stand-down.
References
Brymer, M., Jacobs, A., Layne, C., Pynoos, R., Ruzek, J., Steinberg, A., Vernberg, E., & Watson, P. (2006). Psychological first aid: Field operations guide (2nd ed.). National Child Traumatic Stress Network and National Center for PTSD.
Hobfoll, S. E., Watson, P., Bell, C. C., Bryant, R. A., Brymer, M. J., Friedman, M. J., Friedman, M., Gersons, B. P. R., de Jong, J. T. V. M., Layne, C. M., Maguen, S., Neria, Y., Norwood, A. E., Pynoos, R. S., Reissman, D., Ruzek, J. I., Shalev, A. Y., Solomon, Z., Steinberg, A. M., & Ursano, R. J. (2007). Five essential elements of immediate and mid-term mass trauma intervention: Empirical evidence. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 70(4), 283-315. https://doi.org/10.1521/psyc.2007.70.4.283
The Chamberlain MSW 521 Week 3 instructions
The activation checklist is a working document, so most of it should be a table rather than prose. Above the table, write a short activation statement: the event types covered, the position with authority to declare and the words that start the checklist. In the table, give each step a number, an action phrased as an instruction, the role that carries it out, the trigger and a clock target. Plan for the phone ringing out: who declares if the first person cannot be reached, and what happens if too few staff respond. Say what the first hour and first shift are for. End with how the department stands down. Keep descriptions of the agency out; the checklist is for use, not explanation.
How this MSW 521 Week 3 example is built
The activation statement covers events with five or more deaths, twenty hospitalized, fifty displaced or a request from the emergency manager, names the director or on-call supervisor as able to declare and gives the activating words. Table 1 lists ten steps from declaring activation within 15 minutes to arranging staff check-ins within 24 hours, each with role, trigger and clock. The fallback section passes authority to the on-call supervisor after 15 minutes and to the emergency manager after 30, and calls mutual aid if fewer than six staff confirm. The first hour section limits goals to placing staff and logging, citing Brymer et al. (2006) and the five principles in Hobfoll et al. (2007). Stand-down conditions and staff check-ins close the checklist.
MSW 521 Week 3 rubric: what full points look like
Faculty grade the checklist as a usable document. A version written as prose loses the most, because it cannot be worked through under pressure. Next comes the checklist with no clock: steps in sensible order with nothing saying how fast. Credit goes to a clear activation statement, a table whose columns carry role, trigger and time, and fallbacks for when people cannot be reached. The first hour should have limited, realistic goals. A defined stand-down shows the response has an end. Sources for the response approach, such as psychological first aid, should be cited in APA. The checklist should fit the invented agency's size and staff.
Common MSW 521 Week 3 mistakes, and how to avoid them
The checklist that loses most is written as paragraphs describing what an agency would do. Another costly version omits clocks entirely. Some checklists name roles that do not exist in a small agency, or assume every call will be answered. Others forget to say who may declare activation, so the document never starts. If your agency or event is different, perhaps a school district's crisis team after a shooting, the structure holds: activation statement, a table with roles, triggers and clocks, fallbacks, first-hour goals and stand-down. A checklist written for your agency would be short enough to fit on two pages taped inside a supply closet.
Get a MSW-521 Week 3 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 3 instructions and whatever format your classroom hands out, because the columns are usually where the points sit, and a custom activation checklist built to it comes back inside 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. Say which agency type your section assigned, a school district or a county behavioral health office, and the example is written for that setting.
More MSW 521 papers and MSW samples
- MSW 521 Week 1: Disaster Threshold Post
- MSW 521 Week 2: Gas Explosion Phase Analysis
- MSW 521 Week 4: Family Assistance Center Plan
- MSW 521 Week 5: Post-impact Needs Survey
- MSW 521 Week 6: Public Message Draft
- MSW 521 Week 7: Long Term Recovery Plan
- MSW 521 Week 8: After Action Review
- MSW 524 Week 3: Stress Response Explainer
- MSW 520 Week 3: Rohingya Household Case Study
- MSW 525 Week 3: Caregiver Handout
- MSW 517 Week 3: First Move Memo
MSW 521 Week 3 questions, answered
Is a checklist really long enough to be a graded assignment?
It is when the required elements are there, and most rubrics ask for a written rationale alongside it. The example pairs a two-page checklist with a page explaining why the call order is what it is and where the authority to activate comes from. Sections differ on whether that rationale is a separate document or a preamble, so check the wording your classroom posted.
Whose authority do I cite if my agency is invented?
The example cites a plausible source rather than a real one: a line from an agency continuity plan, a clause in a memorandum with the county, a position description that includes activation. Naming the type of document is what earns the point. Instructors are not checking a real policy library, they are checking that the writer knows authority comes from somewhere written down.
How many steps is too many?
The example keeps the first hour under a dozen lines and pushes everything else into the first-shift block, because a list nobody can finish gets abandoned at line four. Length is not what rubrics reward here. What they reward is that each line has a role, a trigger and a time, and that the ones at the top are genuinely the ones that cannot wait.
Where can I find a free MSW 521 Week 3 sample paper?
You can read a full MSW 521 Week 3 disaster behavioral health activation checklist here, with its step table and margin notes on fallbacks.
Who can declare activation in the MSW 521 Week 3 sample?
The behavioral health director, or the on-call supervisor if the director cannot be reached within 15 minutes, and the county emergency manager if neither answers within 30.