Preparing groups and communities for coming adversities: Changing the world one organization at a time

The next decades are likely to increase exposure to adversity, as climate worsening and increased global migration cause natural disasters to grow more frequent and intense social conflicts to become more widespread. However, effective response is likely to require significant changes to large, relatively intractable economic and political systems that are difficult to modify. By contrast, groups, organizations, and communities represent "zones of possible influence" on larger groups of people that can be meaningfully affected by social scientists and mental health professionals, who are well positioned to help prepare them for exposure to and healing from adversity and trauma. Ideas presented in this article can help mental health professionals and social science researchers move from primarily intervening with individuals to working with larger communities of persons, in the service of a broader trauma-informed, public health approach. The article identifies some promising avenues of development for new larger group interventions to increase resilience, including public education for trauma and adversity, resilience-related organizational goal setting, large group coping skills training, and technology-facilitated interventions for large groups. It explores potential roles for mental health professionals in working with groups and identifies ways that the content of their training can be supplemented to enable them to more effectively engage with communities and organizations. It raises key issues that will require consideration as mental health professionals and social scientists pivot toward working with larger groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).