George S. Everly Jr.

George S. Everly Jr. (born May 31, 1950) is an American psychologist, academic, and author known for his work in psychological crisis intervention, disaster mental health, and human resilience. He is a co-founder of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF). He currently holds, or has held, academic posts as Professor in Psychology, Professor in Public Health, and associate professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Loyola University Maryland,^[1][2] The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,^[3] and The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.^[4][5]

Everly completed his B.S. in Business Administration in 1972, M.A. in Communications in 1974, and Ph.D. in Public Health in 1978 degrees at the University of Maryland, College Park.^[6] He later undertook specialized fellowship training in behavioral medicine at Harvard University and completed an internship in clinical psychology at Johns Hopkins Homewood Hospital.^[7]

Everly served as a professor of psychology at Loyola University Maryland from 1985 to 2018. He served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1985 to 1987 and Harvard Medical School from 1987 to 1989.^[8] From 2016 to 2024, Everly held a professorship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and since 2006, he has been a part-time associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.^[9]

In the late 1980s, together with Jeffrey T. Mitchell, Everly founded the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF), an education and training organization dedicated to reducing the adverse impact of trauma and burnout within the emergency services professions worldwide. In 1997, ICISF was admitted to the United Nations as a non-governmental organization under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.^[10]

From 1988 to 1992, Everly served as Chief Psychologist and Director of Behavioral Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Homewood Hospital Center in Baltimore.^[11]

As a consultant he was a member of the CDC Mental Health Collaboration Committee (having chaired the mental health competency development sub-committee), the Infrastructure Expert Team within the US Department of Homeland Security, the Peer Support Team for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the NVOAD Emotional and Spiritual Care Committee.

He has held honorary or visiting professorships at the University of Hong Kong, Universidad de Flores,^[12] and Universidad Norbert Weiner (Peru).

Everly is recognized as one of the early developers of psychological first aid and critical incident stress management (CISM). His work has been influential in emergency mental health planning and education across numerous international and governmental organizations. The ICISF has trained professionals in over 29 countries.^[13]

He has served in advisory or honorary roles at institutions such as Universidad de Flores (Argentina), Universidad Norbert Wiener (Peru), and the University of Hong Kong.^[14]

Everly co-authored over 20 textbooks. With Daniel Girdano, he authored Controlling Stress and Tension (Prentice-Hall), perhaps the first college stress management textbook in 1977.^[9]

In 1989, he authored A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response (Plenum), the first text to integrate the psychophysiology of stress with specific treatment guidelines. Both of these seminal texts are still in print. Writing with Jeffrey T. Mitchell, Everly wrote Critical Incident Stress Management, the first textbook on a comprehensive systems' approach to psychological crisis intervention.^[15]

In 1995, Everly co-authored the groundbreaking text "Psychotraumatology" with Jeffrey Lating wherein they coined the term (Springer Publishing, 1995).^[16]

His 2007 book Pastoral Crisis Intervention paved the way for the integration of clergy into disaster mental health response. His 2008 book The Resilient Child (DiaMed) won ForeWord Magazine's gold medal for Book of the Year in Parenting.^[17]

His work with US Navy SEALs and other highly resilient people culminated in his 2015 book Stronger (AMACOM). While on faculty at the Johns Hopkins' Center for Public Health Preparedness, Everly developed the Johns Hopkins' RAPID model of psychological first aid, one of the world's first evidence-based psychological first aid models.^[18] His book The Johns Hopkins Guide to Psychological First Aid, is published by the Johns Hopkins Press

The Johns Hopkins online course Psychological First Aid authored by Everly is ranked as one of the most popular online courses of all time ^[19]

• Lodestar (2024), a USA Today national bestseller
• The Johns Hopkins Guide to Psychological First Aid (2022)
• Stronger: Develop the Resilience You Need to Succeed (2015), named one of the year’s top 10 business books by AMACOM
• A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response, 4th ed. (2019)
• Critical Incident Stress Management (1997)
• Controlling Stress and Tension (Pearson, multiple editions)

• The Certificate of Honor from the Baltimore Police Department^[12]