Seeing the devastation of New Orleans certainly had a sobering affect on me. I had thought after two years things would be back to normal, but boarded-up and gutted houses was what I had been warned about.
What I didn't expect to see was a lack of mental health professionals. If ever there was a supply of people needing help, it is in post-Katrina New Orleans. Read more here including Dr. Kevin Stephens' comment that "we have a lot of post-traumatic stress. We have a lot of depression. We have a lot of suicides. We have a lot of challenges in terms of mental health. And, in fact, a lot of people self-medicate by using alcohol and other drugs."
The professionals we visited certainly validated this over and over again.
In talking with one nurse at the PACE Center, she told of how people just needed to talk--to tell their story, and what they had experienced.
Learning to listen. Taking time to listen. Maybe if all of us did a better job of listening to the needs and concerns of others around us, we might help them through the difficulties they are facing.
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4 comments:
I know that eight brief hours in the lower ninth ward left me with a sense of depression that I struggled to shake. I can only imagine what it would be like to live in the lower ninth ward as a survivor of Katrina. Like Cecile Tebo, I am horrified by the lack of mental health resources in New Orleans.
I agree Tim. I struggle to understand why the mental health resources have essentially vanished.
I hear you! I remember what she said about listening, about how people just want to tell their story. It was one of the better comments I heard from the people we met during the trip. Thanks for posting this.
What is a "psychitrist"?
:-)
BG
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