Trauma Healing Intervention Following Flash Flood Disaster in Tanah Datar Regency, West Sumatra: A Psychosocial Community Service Approach

Abstract

Natural disasters inflict not only physical destruction but also profound psychological trauma on affected communities. The May 2024 flash flood in Tanah Datar Regency, West Sumatra, Indonesia, caused widespread casualties, property loss, and displacement, leaving survivors—particularly children, adolescents, and elderly persons—with acute and potentially chronic trauma responses including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), severe anxiety, sleep disturbances, and social withdrawal. This community service program reports a structured, multi-modal trauma healing intervention implemented on 27 August 2024, at the Tanah Datar disaster post, reaching more than 100 affected residents. The program employed a participatory psychosocial approach integrating child-friendly expressive arts activities (drawing, storytelling, and play), small-group reflective sessions for adolescents and adults, religiously and culturally grounded healing practices aligned with local Minangkabau traditions, and a psychosocial first aid training component for local community volunteers. Evaluation through facilitator observation, structured questionnaires, and brief qualitative interviews demonstrated significant improvements in emotional expression, reduction of trauma symptoms, restoration of social engagement, and enhanced community psychological resilience. Local volunteers and community leaders who received foundational trauma healing training demonstrated readiness to continue psychosocial accompaniment independently, strengthening the program's sustainability. These findings substantiate the effectiveness of culturally embedded, community-integrated psychosocial interventions in post-disaster trauma recovery and provide a replicable model for disaster mental health programming in Indonesia and comparable contexts.