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Community Corner

Crisis Counselors Concentrate on Sandy's Emotional Impact

Survival and loss contribute to stress experienced by Sandy's victims.

While the public response to Hurricane Sandy has focused on lost houses and damaged infrastructure, hundreds of crisis counselors have been focusing on the emotional impact.

Organizations throughout the state have been helping residents cope with their immediate losses, as well as providing resources to deal with Sandy's long-term effects.

The counseling effort received a $2 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on December 6, to be distributed among four mental health providers : the Mental Health Association in New Jersey; Family Service Association; Family Service Bureau of Newark; and a division of Barnabas Health.

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State and nonprofit health officials said crisis counseling provides a crucial bridge for residents who underwent a life-changing experience. Unlike conventional mental health services, crisis counseling aims to assist residents who are overwhelmed by stress after experiencing a crisis.

“It’s just a stressful time for people, so things that may have been relatively simple before may be more challenging,” said Renee Burawski, project manager for the New Jersey Hope and Healing program, the crisis counseling effort overseen by the Mental Health Association in New Jersey Inc.

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“Frustration was present fairly early on” due to power outages and transportation problems, Burawski said. “There’s a lot of frustration that persists in many of the communities.”

Talk Therapy

Crisis counseling can be as simple as listening to residents describe what is causing them stress and talking about ways to cope with these issues, including reaching out to support networks like friends and family.

“It’s not about pathologizing people’s reactions -- it’s about teaching people that those reactions are fairly typical,” Burawski said. “It’s about educating people about typical stress reactions that resolve over time, over two or three months.”

Only a small minority actually develops mental disorders, she said.

The state has a hotline for residents facing stress, 877-294-HELP (877-294-4357), which is available from 8 a.m. to midnight daily. The sooner counseling can be offered after a disaster, the better, according to Adrienne Fessler Belli, director of the disaster and terrorism branch of the state Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

“It’s very important after you have a disaster to provide support, in order to help people recover quickly,” Fessler Belli said.

Fessler Belli said New Jersey was in a strong position to react to the storm because of an existing disaster response crisis counselor program. The state program was put into action immediately after the storm, with the program expanded and supported by the FEMA funding, which allows more counselors to offer services.

“It’s not treatment, it’s not therapy. It’s providing the opportunity to talk about what they’re going through and to get information and resources to help,” she said. “People recover in their own way and in their own time. Providing the emotional support helps them do that. This is not about diagnosing a problem -- it’s about how everyone impacted by a disaster can use the support.”

The FEMA grant will fund the program through late December, but the state is in the process of receiving funding for a two-month extension through February, as well as applying for funding for another nine months.

Fessler Belli expects the emotional impact of the storm to continue to be challenging to residents through the spring and summer. This includes residents who have a delayed emotional impact, as well as some who won’t feel the impact until they take trips to the Shore during the warmer months.

“During a disaster everyone reacts differently -- you can never judge yourself based on anyone else’s reaction,” she said. “Our program will be able to help individuals at any stage of recovery from this disaster.”

State and federal programs have delivered crisis counseling to more than 25,000 residents since the storm, Fessler Belli said.

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