Post-Katrina Aftermath and Helpful Interventions on the Mississippi

Post-Katrina Aftermath andHelpful Interventions on theMississippi Gulf Coast

Raymond M. Scurfield, DSW, LCSW

Extent of Katrina’s Destructionand Disruption

The University of Southern Mississippi–Gulf Coast(USM-GC) campus sits directly on the usuallyplacid Mississippi Gulf Coast, about 100 yards fromthe gulf. The destruction from Hurricane Katrina onAugust 29, 2005, was particularly severe across all12 communities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. TheUSM-GC campus is located in one of these 12 com-munities, Long Beach, and was heavily damaged byHurricane Katrina winds and storm surge. Therewas severe damage to many of the buildings on cam-pus, to include complete destruction of the smallwooden-framed building that housed the School ofSocial Work. The damage was so severe that nofunctions could be continued on the campus, and 6months later it is still unknown if the university willever return to the campus. Furthermore, fully 30%of the university’s 350 staff and faculty were dis-placed due to destruction or heavy damage to theirresidences and personal belongings.

Through the remarkable collective efforts ofuniversity staff and faculty, led by Associate ProvostPatricia Joachim and Dr. Richard Hadden, a tempo-rary campus location was established at a formerhospital low-rise site located about 2 miles from the

T his article offers a first-person perspective bya Mississippi Gulf Coast resident mental healthprofessional and university faculty member

who also is a Hurricane Katrina and Vietnam War sur-vivor. In navigating the turbulent journey on the GulfCoast that began on August 29, 2005, the author con-tinues to be engaged in a series of postdisaster activi-ties and interventions as both a survivor and provider.This descriptive account offers readers a series of prac-tical and strategic social service, psychoeducational,and clinical intervention learning points that aregrounded in the realities of immersion in post-Katrinalife in a very devastated area of the Gulf Coast. Also,there is discussion of the commonality and interface ofindividual and political contextual experiences andreactions after the Vietnam War as compared withthose following Hurricane Katrina and the concurrentdeployment of our Armed Forces to Iraq. Finally,actual and potential posttraumatic growth at both apersonal and community-wide level is described.

This article is a personal reflective account that describesthe impact of Hurricane Katrina on the major universityon the Mississippi Gulf Coast and surrounding com-munities. There is discussion of how a resident socialwork instructor constructed a multifaceted postdisasterresponse: coordinating, networking, and providing hous-ing assistance and educational and clinical activities.Specific and practical educational, psycho-educational,and clinical interventions that proved most helpful aredescribed. There also is discussion comparing postwar

adjustment with post-Katrina adjustment, the nexusbetween post-Katrina responses, the Iraq War, andnational policy, and posttraumatic growth at both indi-vidual and community levels.

Keywords: Hurricane Katrina; Hurricane Katrinain Mississippi; stages of disaster recovery; FEMA;postdisaster psycho-education; postdisaster counsel-ing; posttraumatic stress; posttraumatic growth; IraqWar; Vietnam War

From the School of Social Work, University of SouthernMississippi–Gulf Coast, Long Beach (RMS).

Address correspondence to: Raymond M. Scurfield, DSW,LCSW, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Universityof Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast, 730 East Beach Blvd., LongBeach, MS (e-mail: [email protected]).

TraumatologyVolume 12 Number 2

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campus. Classes began on October 10 on a modifiedsummer-session-like schedule. About 65% of thestudents enrolled pre-Katrina followed through andattended classes, in spite of severe personal chal-lenges and losses, and the spring 2006 enrollmentrose to 75% of pre-Katrina levels. Illustrating theimpact on students: 8 out of the 14 MSW studentsin our current cohort either were rendered homeless(6) and lost practically all of their possessions ortheir homes were severely damaged (2). SeveralMSW students lost their jobs, and almost every fieldplacement agency was either severely impacted orclosed down, requiring major modifications to fieldplacement learning. In fact, four of the studentstook on new field placements midstream with disas-ter relief agencies who themselves were fraught withdisorganization and overwhelmed resources.

The destruction to the surrounding southernMississippi communities was massive:

• More than 235 confirmed deaths and 68 still miss-ing as of December 7, 2005 (G. Pender, 2005b)

• 68,700 homes and businesses were destroyed,65,000 sustained major damage, and 60% of theforests in the coastal communities were destroyedalong with much of the shipping and fishingindustry (Editor’s Notebook, 2005a)

• The neighboring community of Pass Christianhad 80% of its homes destroyed, four out of thefive primary and secondary schools, and the townlost 100% of its sales tax revenue, as no gas sta-tions or shops were reopened (Editor’s Notebook,2005b)

• There was 34 feet high storm-surge from Katrinain western Mississippi that was propelled inlandas far as 10 miles from the coast through myriadrivers and bayous, severely damaging or destroy-ing homes and communities that had never pre-viously been flooded by storm surges. Anddamaging hurricane-level winds and tornadoesswept up through the central and north centralareas of the state. (Walsh, 2006)

• An estimated 350 buildings listed in the NationalRegister of Historic Places were washed or blownaway, along with most of the evidence of 300years of Gulf Coast history. This makes Katrinathe worst historic preservation disaster in ournation’s history (Huffman, 2006)

• As of March 13, 2006, almost 100,000Mississippians were living in FEMA trailers, andhundreds of other displaced residents are not eli-gible for FEMA trailers (Copeland, 2006)

• The two major east-west bridges on the MississippiGulf Coast that connect the three coastal coun-ties together were totally destroyed. This has cut

off many resident from direct access to Harrisonor Jackson Counties (and vice versa), resulting insubstantially longer driving distances and relatedtraffic congestion to circumvent the lack of water-crossings. Even a partial rebuilding of eitherbridge is projected to be 1 to 2 years away. Theprojected very long delays until both bridges arecompleted has been a regular source of contro-versy and disgruntlement, publicly played out inthe local newspaper and on the television sta-tions. One local coast resident reported that hehad just been to the dentist and was told that he“had a Katrina mouth.” He asked what a Katrinamouth was, and the dentist replied: “You needtwo bridges.”

The time-lag for rebuilding destroyed homes andbuildings is no laughing matter. It took more than adecade for the 28,000 homes in Florida wrecked in1992 by Hurricane Andrew to be rebuilt; Mississippialone has 4 times that number of homes to berebuilt (Rubinkam, 2005). Besides the loss of lives,homes, and personal property, hundreds of thou-sands of Katrina survivors in Mississippi have beenexperiencing a profound sense of loss, grief, andmalaise over the destruction of places of employ-ment, small and large businesses, churches, schools,neighborhoods, recreational facilities, historic sites,and even entire communities—the loss of so muchabout life that was familiar and cherished along theentire Mississippi Gulf Coast (Scurfield, 2006a).

The Doubly-Disadvantaged: Low- andModerate-Income Citizens Who BecomeDisaster Survivors

People who are already disadvantaged prior toKatrina, such as the poor and the near-poor, the sickand the elderly, find themselves disadvantaged evenmore in the face and wake of natural disasters. Aftermy family had decided that we were not going to evac-uate, we went to our church, St. Thomas, early in themorning of August 28, to pray in the adorationchapel. While there, we saw one other person, some-one we knew whose wife was wheelchair bound. Iasked him, “Are you going to evacuate or stay?” Hisreply still tugs at my heart: “We’re staying. We havenowhere to go, and no money to get there with.”

Yes, this double-disadvantage for many sectors ofour society in the aftermath of disasters makes asuccessful postdisaster readjustment from a very dif-ficult series of traumatic events even more compli-cated and difficult. In addition, Mississippi has one

105 Traumatology / Vol. 12, No. 2, June 2006

of the highest taxes in the nation on food—a tax dis-proportionately hurtful to the less well-to-do. And anumber of Mississippi politicians continue to beagainst reducing the food tax (Stallworth et al.,2006). Furthermore, the availability of affordablehousing—always at a premium—has become almostnonexistent in the wake of Katrina’s destruction.Most of what was not destroyed is being used by dis-aster relief and reconstruction workers. And therehas been a significant spike in rental rates for thefew units that are available; indeed, there are reportsof rental rate increases of up to over 200% from pre-Katrina rates (Copeland, 2006).

Personal Impact of Katrina

Unlike many of my colleagues and community resi-dents, I was fortunate to still have a home that washabitable. Even a home with moderate damageinside and substantial outside damage paled in com-parison to those who returned to find concrete slabswhere homes and neighbors once were—and formany no flood insurance (since most homes werenot in designated flood zones) to cover the loss fromhurricane-driven storm surge. And the ongoing bat-tles with the insurance companies as to what dam-age was caused by wind and rain versus storm-surgewater are extremely contentious and complex; manyhomeowners have been left feeling that they arebeing ripped off by their insurance companies—withdisastrous financial consequences.

My greatest personal loss was that my universityoffice was totally destroyed. Thirty years of data,backup data stored on floppy discs, raw data col-lected over several years from two research projects,1,000+ books, hundreds of videos and journals, art-work, and so on—all were swept away by Katrina.And it appears that neither personal nor universityinsurance will cover any of the loss.

My wife, Margaret, and my daughter, Helani,and I managed to find a circuitous route throughseveral streets and yards where the debris was piledhigh and wide, to walk to the college campus 2 daysafter Katrina. I must admit that I was almost in astate of shock as we turned the corner and saw whatwas left of the School of Social Work building andmy office: walls gone, almost all contents swept outinto the street and intermixed with debris and con-tents from other buildings. I did find two file cabi-nets that were stuck in one corner of what was leftof my former office. Even though the contents werecompletely water-logged and laced with storm-surge

muck, we decided that I ought to go through the filesand take away whatever seemed most important—onthe off chance that I would be able to actually sal-vage some of the contents later. We located twogarbage cans that I dumped files into and found twobattered office chairs to put the cans on to wheelthem back through the debris and across the rail-road tracks.

Lessons learned: Never, ever have your backupdata on the same campus, let alone in the samebuilding or in the same room, as your primary data.That doesn’t help when the campus is swept away.Also, many of us have become experts in someaspect of post-Katrina salvage work. I have becomean expert at salvaging techniques to dry out filessoggy with storm-surge muck. Here are a few tipsabout what I have learned. Dump the files into agarbage can with a lid and put it in the garage out ofthe sunlight; this allows the paper to remain dampuntil you have time to peel the pages apart, page-by-page and set them out in rows to dry in the sun—aslong as the wind isn’t blowing. Only after about thefourth week of my several days a week routine oflaying out yet another stack of wet papers to dry(I couldn’t do it every day, it was too depressing) didI discover, right before my eyes all along, the perfectanti-breeze strategy to keep the papers from blowingaway—a common garden hose—heavy enough tokeep a long line of papers from blowing away andnarrow and light enough that the paper directlyunder the hose also would dry. I also found out thatred pen notations are illegible when the paper hasbeen immersed in storm-surge, blue-pen notationsare hard to read, and black-pen notations are quitelegible. And most amazingly, I discovered the untoldwonder of yellow sticky notes throughout my files—they remained, remarkably resilient, stuck right tothe pages where they had originally been placedmonths or years ago, and readable.

And the most important lesson was to find thehumor in it all—or the loss would have been unbear-able. The couch of my colleague, Patricia Davis,was sitting out in the street in the middle of thedebris from several buildings. One of my most pre-cious photographs is of me sitting on that couch,surrounded by debris, a small end table propped infront of me, and me studiously reading a remnant ofsomething—and laughing. Or I would have beensobbing. . . . And yes, there are days when it stillhurts. And I am one of the luckier ones; I knowfolks who lost both their offices or businesses andtheir homes.

Post-Katrina Aftermath and Helpful Interventions / Scurfield 106

Coordination of EmergencyHousing Assistance

Because I still had my roof overhead, I was moreavailable than many to take a lead role in offering tohelp with the reestablishment of the university as afunctioning entity. In particular, if the universitywere to be able to get back on its feet reasonablyquickly, something had to be done to help the 90+faculty and staff who were homeless in the aftermathof Katrina. I volunteered to help coordinate andended up taking a lead role to expedite emergencyhousing arrangements for university employees, withconsiderable assistance from Shelia White, directorof university relations; Pat Smith, history professor;and Linda Skupien, public relations officer at ourGulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs.

There was considerable daily activity required tocompile and maintain updated information as towho was in need of housing, whether or not theyhad a site to put a trailer on, if the university wouldbe able to make land available for some of ouremployees to put FEMA trailers on (after manyroadblocks from federal agencies, this great idea wasabandoned), having the Long Beach City mayor will-ing to designate our employees as “essential person-nel” to hopefully expedite their receiving trailers,working with the Long Beach School District tohave some of our employees placed in trailer sitesalong with their teachers, interfacing with numerousFEMA officials at several locations in the three coastalcounties, and backdoor discussions with congres-sional and state officials to put pressure on the lag-ging federal response.

There was inordinate difficulty in being able toget accurate and updated information from FEMAofficials. In fact, our entire set of trailer applicationpackets for our employees was lost by FEMA andhad to be resubmitted. And it seemed as if no oneeither knew or was willing to delineate the exact pro-cedures for trailer applications, criteria for expeditedprocessing, the status of the trailer requests, or whowould get a trailer and when. One university staffmember described a typical experience with FEMA:

My wife and I had been going to the nearest FEMADisaster Recovery Center every week (for about 10weeks consecutively) to check up on our trailer appli-cation. And we were repeatedly assured that ourapplication was complete and was moving along. Andthen, when we heard from you last week about howFEMA had lost the trailer applications of universityemployees, I decided to call the national FEMA

telephone number to check with them that ourapplication was complete and in process. But whenI got through on the telephone, FEMA told me thatthey had no record that we had ever even submitteda trailer application!

Individual federal and other disaster relief employ-ees and volunteers from national relief organizationstypically were very friendly and well intentioned.Many have appreciated that which they did receive.However, the challenges of attempting to respond tosuch unprecedented (in the United States) numbersof storm survivors were immense, and many sur-vivors found much to complain about, to include thelabyrinth of bureaucracy to be navigated that wasalmost impenetrable and that the disaster reliefresources were overwhelmed. No wonder that fourof the more common acronyms for FEMA that sup-planted “Federal Emergency Management Agency”were “Failure to Effectively Manage Anything,” “ForgetEver Moving Ahead,” “Federal Employees Missing inAction,” and my personal favorite: “Fix EverythingMy A**” (Lee, 2005).*

And the almost impossible task that persisted formonths in trying to get through on the telephone tooverwhelmed telephonic response systems, particu-larly at FEMA and the Red Cross, was captured per-fectly in the words of a Gulf Coast resident. Heannounced: “I found a number where the Red Crossfinally answered the phone. It’s 1-800-I AM BUSY”(Sound Off, 2005b).

Yes, if we didn’t laugh at the extraordinary andunrelenting series of obstacles and roadblocks to receiv-ing help, we would all have been crying incessantlyor been enraged or totally numbed. Unfortunately, itappears that the disillusionment phase of postdisas-ter recovery has now arrived for increasing numbersof south Mississippi residents. We almost surely willbe facing a markedly prolonged response in the faceof the immense recovery tasks still ahead.

Postdisaster Counseling andPsycho-Educational Services

Our USM-GC campus is by far the smaller of the twocampuses of the University of Southern Mississippi;the larger campus is in Hattiesburg, 75 miles to the


*The last acronym was provided by an attendee at mypost-Katrina workshop at the annual meeting, MS Chapter ofthe National Association of Social Workers, Jackson, MS,March 9, 2006.

north. One glaring longstanding lack at our campushas been the absence of any university student healthor counseling services; our students have had tocommute to Hattiesburg to avail themselves of suchuniversity-provided services. In the immediate after-math of Hurricane Katrina, the necessity to have acounseling presence at our campus was an ethicaland professional mandate—not only for our studentsbut also for our faculty and staff (a constituency that isbeyond the mission of most university-based studentcounseling services).

I have an expertise in posttraumatic stress disor-der and postdisaster services. I served as an armysocial worker on a psychiatric team in Vietnam andhad a 25-year career in PTSD program leadershippositions with the Department of Veterans Affairs(VA) prior to my current faculty position. I am a res-ident faculty at the USM-GC campus. And I was afellow survivor of Katrina along with my wife anddaughter. Consequently, I was in a unique positionto provide a counseling and consultation responsethat would be optimally accessible for our students,faculty, and staff. I offered, and the universityaccepted, my offer to provide counseling services.

I was given a university cell phone (a necessity inthe absence of any working landline phones). Also, Iwas given an office to counsel in, a rare commodityin that there is so little available space in our tem-porary campus quarters for any faculty to have pri-vate offices. Finally, the School of Social Work gaveme release time from a course that I was scheduledto teach at the Hattiesburg campus so that I could con-centrate on my post-Katrina efforts at the USM-GC cam-pus. From September 17 through May 5, 2006, I pro-vided 72 counseling sessions to 12 faculty, 19 staff,and 14 students; 13 consultations (18 sessions) withfaculty and staff; and 6 presentations/discussions inclasses and at meetings with staff and faculty.

The Complementary Roles of Counselor,Emergency Housing Coordinator, andFaculty Member

The Hattiesburg campus counseling service mighthave been able to have a counselor commute to ourcampus only for part of one day a week on a sched-uled basis, as they themselves were facing a 300% to400% increase in student clients (many of whomwere from the Gulf Coast). However, we clearlyneeded much more than that. I was able to makemyself available on campus, Monday through Friday,

except when teaching my field seminar, and by cellphone at any time.

Also, through my coordination of housing assis-tance to staff and faculty, I was very visible andactive daily throughout our temporary campus loca-tion, interacting with many employees about hous-ing needs. As I had learned in coordinating disasterrelief services on the island of Kauai in the after-math of Hurricane Iniki, “The provision of goodsand mediation with disaster agencies was the doorthrough which mental health assessments and inter-ventions could pass” (Scurfield et al., 1993, p. 47).In the course of such interactions, people would juststart sharing their stories of the hurricane. In fact, ithas continued to be almost a standard opening linethat a person uses to greet someone not seen sincethe hurricane (or indeed strangers will do the samewith each other, while standing in lines at the bank,grocery, and hardware stores, etc.) and ask, “Howare you doing?” “How did you make out from theHurricane?” “Do you still have your house?” And people will still spontaneouslyspend a few minutes, or longer, sharing their hurri-cane and posthurricane experiences with each other.

Over the ensuing months, I have continued tobe involved in innumerable informal in-the-hallwayconversations with faculty, staff, and students thathave covered a wide range of topics. Inevitably, manyfolks will casually mention a personal difficulty they,a family member, friend, or neighbor have beenexperiencing. And we then, in effect, have an infor-mal mini-counseling or consultation interactionwithout it ever necessarily being labeled as such.Such interactions have taken place outside the frontentrance of our temporary campus building wherepeople go to use their cell phones (because theycan’t get clear telephonic connections in the back ofthe building) or are taking breaks; at the frontcounter inside the main entry; and along the hall-ways when passing by. Not infrequently, someonewould drop by my office ostensibly to inquire abouthousing assistance or to check on their FEMAtrailer application process, and there would be amention of a personal difficulty, ranging from cur-rent temporary living arrangements, spousal dis-agreement arising out of what to do about theirhousing situation, or how an extended family mem-ber or friend is not doing very well. University col-leagues at our Gulf Coast Research Laboratory havementioned how this seems to be the way that themen they know are able to talk about the aftermathof Katrina. It is not through having an appointment


with a counselor. Rather, it occurs naturally whenworking on homes and trash removal, during breaks,through lots of small talk that actually becomes anavenue of expression and sharing among males whootherwise would see the same level of sharing in acounseling session as too touchy-feely.

Because of the concern of possibly being in aninappropriate “dual relationship” with fellow faculty orwith students for whom I was their teacher, we haveoffered alternative counseling through the nearby GulfCoast Mental Health Center or at the Hattiesburgcampus. Also, because we were such a small campus,and our temporary campus location was so crampedfor space and devoid of anonymity, there was a con-cern about adequate privacy and whether peoplewould be willing to use my counseling services.Therefore, I decided that it would be a wise tacticalmove to advertise my counseling services within therubric of my providing both housing assistance serv-ices and being the senior social work faculty memberat this campus. I had signs posted throughout ourcampus building that said, “Housing Assistance,Social Work & Mental Health Counseling. Walk-In orCall Dr. Ray Scurfield at 228.234-2062.”

Thus, people sitting in my office might be therefor any one of several reasons—not necessarily forpersonal counseling. Over the first 2 months ofbeing identified as the counseling resource on cam-pus, I had to shuttle from one temporary office toanother until a more stable location was made avail-able, even if the door had a doorknob hole but nodoorknob (kind of like a peephole) and severalcopiers immediately outside of the room that manyemployees used. Now there is one copier 5 feetaway, there is a doorknob, and I have a desk and filecabinet as well. I just brought in my one office pic-ture and four battered plaques that survived Katrinato hang on the wall. Now it’s almost like a real office.

There has been a range of problems observed.One student had been suffering recurrent night-mares of drowning from his experience during theheight of Katrina. Even though he could not swim,he dove down from a rooftop in rapidly rising watersthree times to rescue an elderly couple marooned ontheir second floor, and helped them break throughthe roof and climb out on top. A Vietnam veteranwith war-related PTSD was taken to a very crowdedshelter 2 days after Katrina that happened to have anumber of Vietnamese people present. He had aresurgence of Vietnam-related symptoms and leftthe shelter. Most of the counseling I have provided

has been for a myriad of problems associated withthe post-Katrina aftermath and not the more nar-rowly defined acute posttraumatic symptoms arisingout of a specific traumatic episode during and/orimmediately following Hurricane Katrina. Suchissues include the pervasive sense of loss of place ofresidence and possessions, the inability to concentrate,low energy and exhaustion, the stress of decreasedacademic performance, not having a place to studyor the resources to study with, sudden loss ofemployment (the Mississippi Gulf Coast had up to a20% unemployment rate for about 6 months post-Katrina), the day-to-day stress of too few businessesopen and too many people trying to use the few thatare open for business (with subsequently very longlines and delays everywhere), a marked loss of qual-ity of life, having to deal with significant others whothemselves are stressed out from the challenges oflife post-Katrina, and confusion, anxiety, anger,and/or sadness over what is and might be happeningto them and to our communities in the ensuingmonths and years.

Helpful PostdisasterPsycho-EducationalInformation and Resources

Several of my colleagues sent me helpful literature onpostdisaster reactions and coping, along with additionalinformation gleaned from the Web. These include

• National Center for PTSD (NCPTSD.org)• Psychological First Aid: Field Operations Guide

(National Child Traumatic Stress Network atNCTSN.org)

• “Tips for Helping Students Recovering fromTraumatic Events” (ED.gov)

• My Hurricane Story: A Guided Workbook forChildren (available free of charge throughwww.mercycorps.org)

• There Was A Hurricane (written and drawn bySandy Appleby, Tri-City Mental Health Center,East Chicago, IN; 219.398.7050, who was a vol-unteer deployed with the Indiana Task ForceDisaster Team)

• Colleagues Bruce Young at the NC-PTSD,Menlo Park, CA, and Judith Holland, TraumaConsultants, Honolulu, have been particularlygenerous of their time and expertise to send mepostdisaster materials

• Suicide Prevention resource. I have found theNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline, sponsored


by the U.S. Department of Health and HumanServices (1-800-273-TALK) to be an immediateand responsive resource, 24 and 7—invaluablefor areas such as ours where suicide preventionresources are minimal

I set up a table in the hallway outside of ouroffice area, next to beverage and food machines, andhave supplies of six handouts available for anyone totake. The sign above the table reads, “Post-Katrinahandouts are available free of charge on the tablebelow. Please take whatever you need.” So manypeople have availed themselves of these handoutsthat we still, 8 months after Katrina, have to replen-ish them constantly. Out of all the postdisaster liter-ature available, one chart has been most helpful inmy work with post-Katrina survivors, “CommonStages of Disaster Recovery” (Faberow & Gordon,1981), adapted by the North Carolina CooperativeExtension Services, 1999, and used by many disas-ter agencies. However, I have found the originalfour-stage chart (heroic, honeymoon, disillusion-ment, and reconstruction) lacking two vital stages(tunnel vision and post-traumatic growth) and onecrucial and increasingly appearing substage (delayedresponses) that cuts across five of the six stages. Hence,I have modified this chart and relabeled it “Six Stagesof Disaster Recovery” (Scurfield, 2006b). Also, thetimelines specified for each stage need to be elon-gated considerably to account for the massive levelsof destruction and disruption caused by Katrina.Finally, I have found Kubler-Ross’s (1969/1997) fivestages of grief to be a helpful additional educationalcomponent for those who have suffered traumaticphysical loss. However, in my opinion these fivestages of grief are quite insufficient to use as themodel for understanding common postdisasterrecovery stages and phases.

“Delayed” Post-Katrina Response

The fact that any “common stages of disaster recov-ery” do not necessarily occur in a sequential, linearfashion for all trauma survivors is poignantly illus-trated by a letter that I received from a senior facultycolleague, sent to me in response to my sharinga prepublication copy of this journal article. It isreprinted with written permission by the writer. Italso movinglyillustrates how there can be a “delayed” response andhow survivors who themselves are hurting oftentimesare wanting to do something to help others.

Thanks Ray. As I read your article on Katrina, I hada flash of understanding about myself. My make-uptends to make me appear sane and rational in themidst of the storm and in its immediate aftermath.I have delayed responses. I have known this aboutmyself for most of my adult life. People will tell me“you are cool under fire.” Or, “you don’t lose sightof what’s important to do when others go bananawhen all hell breaks loose.”

I have always had delayed emotional reactionsdays after very difficult events. I have even remarkedthat the main thing I bring to the table is the abilityto focus on strategy even when everything is comingapart. I get upset later; it hits me what “might havehappened” if we had faltered.

Would you believe that I am having more diffi-culty now than in the three months after the storm?

However, some of the problems of the storm havepersisted.

• The house is still a mess—I hope it will be allfixed in a month or so, but the persistence of themess is depressing now, whereas I was not deeplyemotional when doing the temporary repairsright after the storm.

• My parents are aged. I quickly recognized that Ihad to find a location for them the day after thestorm. I coolly made the decision to relocatethem to Jackson. Now they are back in their ownassisted living apartment here, but they havebeen physically taken down by all of the movingthey have had to do. Dealing with their stormrelated decline is turning out to be a source ofcontinuing emotional suffering for me.

• The future of our Campus nags at me; somuch of my life is plowed into the soil on theGulf Park site . . .

I find myself feeling more overwhelmed by com-peting demands on me—house, job, parents, otherfamily members—than at anytime in the immediateaftermath of the storm. And I find myself crying atsome television interviews. I am mentally distractedmore now than when mucking out my in-law’sruined house and more than when we were trying tofigure out how to deal with FEMA housing orreconfigure the university schedule to begin sixweeks late, and those were difficult tasks.

And so, delayed response is harder for me thanthe immediate aftermath of the storm. You can filethis and use it if you wish—maybe for the class—ifit helps anyone else to know that they are not alonein this prolonged struggle. Your article just gave methe occasion to get it off my chest.

By the way, how are you doing? Caregivers havesome vulnerability too, you know. [Thank you so


very much for your sharing. And, yes, you areabsolutely right about care-givers! For one thing, Ifind myself having a difficult time slowing down andseem to be running full-tilt, 24 & 7.]

I had absolutely no idea that my colleague mightcommunicate to me what he did above. I had merelyforwarded this manuscript to him because we hadworked together on several post-Katrina activitiesand I wanted to share it with him. However, hisstatement, “Your article just gave me the occasion toget it off my chest,” helped me to remember howprecious each existential moment can be. You neverknow when your just being there for someone, espe-cially during or after a crisis or trauma, will be anopportunity for others to share something impor-tant, or that they might take something you havesaid and use it to gain insight about something reallymeaningful for them, or where your mere caringpresence is so needed and received. That is whyeach contact with another in and of itself is pre-cious, ought to be experienced with genuineness,and savored. And in the aftermath of Katrina, I havefound myself and others going out of our way to stopand, in spite of innumerable tasks to get done, tak-ing the moment to enjoy chatting with each other—for no particular reason other than to make a briefyet genuine human connection. I find myself doingthis with receptionists, academic counselors, secu-rity officers, I-tech advisors, administrators, librarystaff, secretaries, book store customers, mainte-nance workers, students, colleagues—and strangers.

“Stress Management Post-Katrina”College Course

My colleague, Mark Maneval, Chair, HumanPerformance & Recreation, suggested that he and I,along with Faye Mitchell, Nursing, co-teach a spe-cial survey course during the spring 2006 semester.We are teaching this as an overload course, and ourteaching reimbursement is being donated to helpestablish a recurring scholarship for a College ofHealth student. Mark’s idea was to have a low-impactexercise and humor emphasis, with supplementalinstruction in other areas that could positively affectstress. I am teaching five of the class meetings:myths and realities about trauma (Scurfield, 2006c),coping, personal awareness, and self-care in life andat work. Other class content includes aroma therapyin stress reduction, progressive relaxation exercises,

yoga, the role of nutrition, flexibility, aerobic dance,and Pilates. We have about 25 students enrolled forcredit, 15 of whom are university staff members.The importance of this course offering 6 monthsafter Katrina is reflected in what happened duringour first meeting. First, Mark made sure that thestudents knew that this was not going to just be a“heavy” course focusing on negatives. He pointedout how the first exam would be on a “Katrina StressClass Vocabulary List.” Some of the vocabulary def-initions provided were

FEMA Frost Syndrome: The “unexplained” thin layerof ice that forms in your FEMA trailer at 3:00 a.m.in the morning when the butane tank runs out.

KATRINA ISSUES (See FEMA CHALLENGED).USE: “Why are your bread not toasted and the cof-fee cold? Because your daughter is using the hairdryer and one more appliance will trip the FEMAtrailer circuit breaker.”

FEMA MARDI GRAS FLOAT: How do you recognizethe FEMA float? It is the one that arrives 3 monthsafter the Mardi Gras parade is over.

Following this much-appreciated humor, Ibriefly described and discussed three points abouttrauma: (a) trauma literally is unforgettable; (b) it isnot helpful to “compare” one’s trauma with thetrauma experienced by others; and (c) it is normalfor many survivors to find Katrina memories andissues to be as “fresh” 6 months—or years—later aswhen Katrina happened. The late Chaim Shatanreferred to this as “freeze-dried memories.” Then, Iwalked the class through the following:

• Discussion of several common myths abouttrauma and its impact (i.e., time heals allwounds; my trauma was not as bad as yours so Ishouldn’t be feeling as badly as I do; I must havebeen bad or somehow deserved what happenedto me; Katrina is the cause of all of my problems;if I can just forget about Katrina and its after-math, I can move on with my life)

• Discussion of common warning signs and triggers(i.e., anniversary dates, sights, sounds, and smellsreminiscent of the hurricane and its aftermath).†

• Viewed a 2-minute video excerpt of four survivors’reactions immediately after Katrina. This wasextracted from an outstanding video produced by


†If you are interested in handouts that I have developedregarding trauma myths and realities, and triggers and warningsigns, please contact me by e-mail at [email protected] for a copy.

the local ABC station (WLOX, 2006). To our sur-prise, practically every student was in tears.

• Had the students complete a one-page “KatrinaAwareness Inventory” for their own personalawareness. They also were told that they wouldbe asked later if there was one item on their listthat they might be willing to share with theclass—and they had the option to simply say“pass” and not share any item from their personallist. There were only two questions on the inven-tory, with room for their comments: “How are(1) you and (2) your life different now comparedto before Katrina? Negatives about you and yourlife: how you are, how you are reacting to peopleand circumstances, how your life has changed.Positives about you and your life, how you are,how you are reacting to people and circum-stances, how your life has changed.”

• I then shared one negative for me—my reactionto the complete destruction of my office and 30years of professional stuff. We then startedaround the room to see if anyone was willing toidentify at least briefly a negative impact ofKatrina. What actually unfolded was that eachand every student “emotionally told her story” ofwhat had happened during Katrina—as if it hadhappened yesterday. One after another, as tissuepaper was passed around, the responses werepoignantly heartfelt, full of pathos, impactedgrief over losses, and guilt that some had not suf-fered the damages that others had. The sharingwas so extensive that we could not carry out mostof our original plan for this first class meeting;we realized that what was being shared andvented was much too important to cut short. Andthis was the first class meeting. And so, learningpoints already have emerged. First, that if pro-vided a safe and supportive milieu in which thepurpose ostensibly is to provide information,trauma survivors may spontaneously use theopportunity to vent and share, and we must beflexible to allow such to happen and not be overlyconcerned with sticking to a prearranged agenda.Second, a number of people who might benefitfrom counseling, but have not availed themselvesof it, are willing to enroll in a college course forcredit that will provide at least some therapeuticattention to their postdisaster coping.

Hopefully, through the completion of thecourse, any who still may need counseling may bemore willing to seek it. And, in any case, they willhave learned alternative stress management strate-gies and basic information about trauma and itsimpact—and have had some fun, perhaps the most

therapeutic element. (For a discussion of the roleof positive emotion and laughter posttrauma, seeBonanno, 2004; Keltner and Bonanno, 1997.)

Helpful Clinical Intervention Strategies

There were several intervention strategies that I havefound to be most consistently helpful post-Katrina:

Survival needs. Before anything else, it is imperativeto ensure that the person’s basic survival needs arebeing addressed.‡ People in need of informationabout and access to food, water, clothing, bedding,shelter, safety, transportation, financial assistance,acute medical assistance, or follow-up, are not goingto be very interested in nor are they going to be ableto retain much information that is not directly rele-vant to such basic survival needs. We becameacutely aware of the importance of getting to thebasic needs first, while simultaneously being verycareful to promote the dignity of clients in such direneed. An elderly man came into our shelter inWaveland. He said that his wife just had surgery yes-terday and that they were still staying at their prop-erty, even though their home was severely damaged.I asked if there was anything he needed. I still tearup when I remember what he said: “It would be niceif we could have a blanket for my wife.”§

Written information and education. We found thatmuch of anything that a counselor will say to some-one in postdisaster crisis or stress will go in one earand out the other—or will soon be forgotten.Therefore, it is essential that trauma survivors beprovided with written information to read through asyou are talking with them and/or to take with themfor reference later. The challenge is to have handoutsthat are easy to read (no long paragraphs and printlarge enough for easy reading), in a language under-standable and useful to the persons you are provid-ing services to, and containing information that theclient needs to be educated and knowledgeable


‡I am indebted to several attendees at my post-Katrina work-shop at the annual meeting of the Mississippi State Chapter ofthe National Association of Social Workers (March 9, 2006)who have been working in shelters throughout Mississippi withpersons displaced by Katrina. They reminded me that survivalneeds need to be addressed first.

§Shared with me by a social worker at the NationalAssociation of Social Workers annual state conference inJackson, MS, March 9, 2006.

about.¶ Such written information needed, depend-ing on the setting and stage of recovery, includeslocations and contact information concerningneeded resources—food, water, shelter, medicalcare, financial assistance; the common myths andrealities about trauma and its impact (i.e., “timeheals all wounds,” “my trauma wasn’t as bad as oth-ers, so I shouldn’t feel bad”); common warning signsand triggers (i.e., such as anniversary dates, toinclude the date Katrina hit—August 29—and theofficial beginning of the new hurricane season—June 1); common stages of disaster response and delayedresponses; dynamics of posttraumatic responses(i.e., oscillation between numbing and detachmentversus physiological arousal and intrusive memoriesand emotions); and coping strategies (i.e., reestab-lishing routines; being realistic about what you willbe able to accomplish and when). (To appreciate thecompelling universality of posttrauma responsesthat are parallel in the aftermath of various types oftrauma, see Scurfield [2002], recommended copingstrategies in the aftermath of 9/11.)

Advocacy and follow-up. Posttrauma survivors often-times are in circumstances in which their normalabilities to cope have been diminished, or they hadsuch abilities only marginally to begin with. FollowingKatrina, we found that human interactions arerequired to obtain needed resources from agenciesor institutions that may well be very impersonal andbureaucratic and/or that may rigidly adhere to pro-cedures—procedures that oftentimes are a mysteryto the client, and to many counselors, to fathom.Also, such institutions may be facing heavy clientdemands, staffing turnover, staff who may be lessthan knowledgeable or courteous or efficient and/orare disorganized—and/or an agency that may bedownright fragmented and in chaos. Please remem-ber Scurfield’s reframe of your expectations aboutbureaucracy: Big bureaucracies oftentimes do notfunction that well in normal times. Why in the worldwould you expect them to function well during timesof crisis?

Realistically, very few agencies in good times, letalone postdisaster, provide either (a) a truly simple, fair,and effective channel for appealing or tracking whathas been requested or promised, or (b) conscien-tious, systematic, and proactive outreach and follow-up services. The need for follow-up is particularly

relevant for trauma survivors in that, typically, theyhave memory and concentration difficulties and mayfind it very difficult to follow tasks through to com-pletion. Also, recovery is not a straight-line progres-sion; rather, it is more like a spiral binder, withprogress and regressions that need to be attendedto—and then with necessary follow-up.

Clarifying reasonable therapeutic goals. Are survivorsaware of what are the realistic and attainable thera-peutic goals in regard to recovering from theirtrauma experiences? Trauma will always be remem-bered (although substances or active survival activi-ties can offer a temporary avoidance). It is not arealistic goal to hope or expect to totally forget whathappened. However, you can be helped to learn howto achieve a more peaceful coexistence with unfor-gettable traumatic memories and experiences.

Nonjudgmental, accepting, and confirming the sur-vivor’s own story and capability for recovery. “I hearyou saying that Katrina has been the most terribleexperience to ever happen to you—and even so, thatyou recognize you need to talk more about it and notjust try to bury the feelings and memories. Is what Ijust said accurate?” (Yes, lest we forget the basicRogerian counseling principles, such as accuratelycommunicating back to the survivor that which sheor he has shared, and communicating basic trust inthe survivor’s ability to move forward if conditionsfostering growth are present. I have found thatRogerian principles offer a powerful affirmation ofthe trauma survivor’s dignity and inherent strengths,and are an integral foundational context to morerecently developed trauma-focused techniques andstrategies.) (Rogers, 1951, 1961, 1980).

Supporting strengths. “I am amazed that you’ve beenable to handle these challenges as well as youhave—single mother, two special needs kids, thehurricane, losing your apartment, the difficulties instill not having a FEMA trailer, continuing to takecollege classes. How are you able to do as well asyou have been in spite of all these factors?”

Normalizing. “What you have just described is notunusual in the aftermath of a disaster. In fact, sev-eral other students [or faculty or staff] have men-tioned very similar feelings and difficulties coping.”

Not “comparing” traumas. “It is important that younot compare your experience of trauma to the


¶I have several such handouts that I would be very happy toshare with any readers.

trauma experiences of others. Comparing traumasis a no-win proposition: you deny or minimize thevalidity and importance of your traumatic experienceto you. It was your trauma and your trauma experi-ence, it was real and you were impacted. This is whatis essential to acknowledge to yourself” (Scurfield,2006b).

Validation. Client: “Why do I feel like crying somuch? I’ll be okay and all of a sudden I’ll start cry-ing.” Counselor: “Is this something you used to dobefore Katrina?” Client: “No, this is not like me atall, that’s why I’m so confused and concerned.”Counselor: “Well, from what you have told me (lossof your residence and all of your possessions, youradult child not being helpful to you in your time ofneed, loss of your university office). You have had alot of losses and issues going in your life that arethings to cry about, yes?”

Tunnel vision. “Finding ways to keep your headabove water and get through the day-to-day issuesand needs has been called ‘tunnel vision,’ focusingon the next task to get done, day to day. How well isyour use of tunnel vision working for you?”

Sharing practical symptom-relief strategies. “You havementioned how difficult it is to get a good night’ssleep, that all of the tasks and activities swirlingaround in your head when you wake up early in themorning make it almost impossible to get back tosleep. I have had the same experience, and I use atechnique that works for me and others. I get up andbriefly write down a list of the things that areswirling around—just enough detail so that I willremember what it was about. Then, I usually amable to go back to sleep. However, if I find that thereis still something more on my mind about what Ialready wrote, or if there are other things swirlingaround, I get up again and write those down, too.Then, I am almost always able to go back to sleep.This has the additional advantage of being thebeginning of a ‘to do’ list that can help me organizemy priorities after getting ready for work.”

Clarifying pre- versus post-Katrina issues. “You’vementioned several issues—losing your home and allyour possessions, conflicts with your aunt in yourtemporary living situation, difficulties concentratingin school, being very anxious around others, some-thing that has intensified these past several weeks. Itis important to be clear which, if any, of these issues

existed before Katrina and might be aggravated byyour Katrina experiences, versus which are con-nected to what happened during and followingKatrina.” Hey, I can confuse the before and after.I like to blame Katrina for my expanding waist, andfor the fact that I have a hard time rememberingeverything I should be remembering these days. Thereality is that my waist was expanding before therewas a Katrina, and I was becoming forgetful aboutsome things before Katrina—and Katrina has nothelped me with either!

Solution-focused behavior (and strengths). “Yes, youare having some real difficulties right now. But youdidn’t always have these difficulties before Katrina,did you? Let’s look back at some things that you didor describe how you were before Katrina, includingways that you used to deal more successfully withserious issues. These are strengths that you havealready in your life, yes? And so, you don’t have tocome up with all new ideas” (de Shazer, 1985, 1991).

Reestablishing routines. “What are you doing now ona regular basis that is good for you? What are younot doing now that you used to do and know areactivities that are good for you and that you need toget back into doing soon? How are you holding your-self back from doing . . . ?”

Creativity. Crises and trauma demand that you bewilling to think outside of the box; normal solutionsmay not be available, or relevant. Use your ingenu-ity, your deviousness, your cunning, your manipula-tion, your political and your creative skills. I wasconducting a trauma training with providers at amilitary base. One spouse shared that her familyhad lost all of her possessions when their householdgoods shipment had just arrived from overseas and wasin a storage unit when Katrina hit and destroyed it.What she was most upset about was the completeloss of all of the pictures of her deceased mother—and that her young children would never know whattheir grandmother had looked like. What made iteven worse was that she had gathered the few pho-tos that her siblings had of their mother for safe-keeping, because she was the most responsiblesibling and she knew that she would take care ofthem. My initial response was a Rogerian one: “I amso very sad at your loss” (A sharing of genuine sad-ness). And then I followed my initial response with acreative and spontaneous, outside-of-the-box inter-vention. After my training, this woman came up to


me to thank me for the information that I hadshared. I thanked her, and shared my sadness at herloss. Then, all of a sudden, I had some possibleadvice, advice that I had never had with any clientbefore—and since I am 63 years old, that’s a lot ofclients not to have had this thought for! I asked ifshe had considered finding an artist who works for apolice department and interviews crime victims todraw sketches/likenesses of suspects? After all, ifsuch an artist could draw a reasonable likenessbased on the memory of someone who had brieflywitnessed a stranger while under great duress, bycontrast your contacts and familiarity with yourmother were much more extensive.#

Survivors taking time for self-care. Client: “I feelguilty that I want to take a little time each evening‘just for me’—to have an hour or two just to be bymyself, and not have to deal with the kids. I’m justexhausted.” Counselor: “Are you not worthy, impor-tant enough, to deserve to have some time for your-self? And why is it that on airplanes when the oxygenmasks come down, the adults are instructed to puttheir masks on first?”

Humor. Examples of humor occur throughout thisarticle; it is important to emphasize that humor isboth a cardinal postdisaster intervention and a cop-ing strategy.

Parallel Reactions and Experiences:Post-War and Post-Katrina

As a Vietnam veteran, I am acutely aware that thereare significant parallel experiences and reactionspost-Katrina and post-Vietnam that may trigger war-related symptoms in a number of active duty per-sonnel and veterans. Although this is not the focusof this article, I want to at least identify these parallelfactors (Scurfield, 2006). These include (a) Physical

devastation - the extent of the destruction itself is,indeed, markedly similar to what one sees in a war zone.A Vietnam veteran described the destruction as “justlike a war zone, except there is no gunfire.” (b) Over-whelming smells—from gasoline and noise of generators tothe terrible stench from the debris, storm surge muck,and rotting organic materials strewn over miles.(c) Marked heat and humidity—oppressive andomnipresent. (d) Marked disorientation—returning(from war or following Katrina) home to a world thatwas now so unfamiliar and strange; indeed, it canfeel as if you are a stranger in a strange land, even ifit is your home (Figley, 1980). Similarly, there still isa profound sense of marked disorientation amongmany Katrina survivors due to the destruction andabsence of so much that was familiar, for example,landmarks and street signs. (e) Being forgotten—thepowerful and painful reminder of how forgottenmany war veterans have felt and feel is now inter-twined, post-Katrina, with how many Mississippians(as well as Louisiana survivors of Hurricane Rita)have discovered how forgotten we seem to havebecome—versus the media coverage of NewOrleans. Is “out-of-sight” also now “out-of-mind” formuch of the rest of the country and our nationalofficials? Oh, yes, too many of our nation’s war vet-erans and their families know exactly how that feels.(f) Be in Iraq or be Home on the Mississippi GulfCoast—there were a number of letters and e-mails tothe local newspaper about the anguish and agony ofvarious Mississippi active duty military personnelbeing deployed to or who were in Iraq at the sametime that their own families and communities weresuffering terribly from Katrina. (g) The financial costsof post-Katrina recovery and the federal response—now there is a new Katrina-induced dilemma. Howcan we possibly wage a war in Iraq and Afghanistanand rebuild an entire nation overseas, while doingjustice to those in Katrina-ravaged Louisiana andMississippi? In the words of one protestor, “Makelevees, not war.” There is a related parallel—theoftentimes continuing troubled legacy of the Depart-ment of Veterans Affairs (the VA) being adequatelyfunded or equipped to serve veterans—and nowthere has been the recurring saga post-Katrina of aninexcusable and incredibly inept disaster responseby our federal government. (h) Clash of NationalPriorities—finally, once again, our nation’s veteransare seeing how national politics and policies pro-claim that our nation must fully fund and providefor our current massive war effort—at the expense of


#A most remarkable convergence of creative thinkingoccurred. My wife, Margaret, who is Director of the Navy’s Fleetand Family Support Center at the Naval Construction Battalionin Gulfport, was attending this training that she had arrangedfor her staff. While I was talking with other attendees immedi-ately after my presentation, the above client had been talkingwith Margaret. Then, when she approached to thank me for mypresentation and I made the suggestion about the police artist,she told me that my wife had just made the same suggestion to her!And Margaret and I are very different in many ways. Anotheramazing convergence.

programs for veterans, the sick, the elderly, and chil-dren. Indeed, an adequate budget to address themassive destruction and rebuilding required on theGulf Coast has been pitted by a number of politiciansagainst the massive budget for the continuing “waron terror.” Is our country willing or indeed even ableto do what is right financially to help the Gulf Coastrebuild from Katrina without the Administration’sinsistence that such spending for Katrina reliefbe offset by budget cuts elsewhere, especially by tak-ing additional funds away from our human servicesprograms?

“Inescapable Exposure” toPost-Katrina Devastation: A Negativeand/or an Opportunity?

It is almost impossible to avoid the widespreaddestruction from Katrina: It is seemingly every-where, every day. One may be able to avoid drivingthrough the most extreme devastation (unless youlive in those communities), but debris-removaltrucks, FEMA trailers, blue-tarped roofs, rubbishalongside the roads are seemingly everywhere. Andthe local media coverage is continually saturatedwith the latest issues concerning FEMA, home floodinsurance controversies, the uncertainties of newand very high building height requirements, debris-removal news, the latest road openings and closings(due to more repairs), the markedly increased trafficcongestion everywhere since Katrina, ad nauseam.What will be the ultimate impact of such inescapableavoidance of re-exposure to traumatic reminders ofKatrina? To what extent will such reminders be anintrusive, inescapable, and recurrent painful hurtthat only compounds the negatives of post-Katrinalife and fuels resentments, preoccupation with theloss of what once was, hopelessness, and disillusion-ment? To what extent will the “24 and 7” exposureto the destruction of Katrina spark profound detach-ment, isolation, and avoidance behaviors? Alternatively,to what extent will it provide an impetus to have todeal with what otherwise might be buried deeply formany years? Will each slow yet very visible sign ofrecovery and rebuilding (because the building of onestructure in an otherwise entire block of devastationis quite prominent) exacerbate how much morethere is yet to be done—or will it nurture a gradualhealing and sense of recovering from the profoundlosses? It is too early to know.

Transforming Disaster

There are a number of trauma survivors who, inaddition to describing severe psychological pain overhaving been exposed to trauma, also report very pos-itive impact on their overall posttrauma life. Onestudent shared how she is coping with living in atrailer on her property that is surrounded by simi-larly devastated properties.

It’s the little victories that are important now. I actu-ally found some fresh tomatoes at the store the otherday, and I really became excited. I cling to small signsof progress. I have planted a tiny garden in one cornerof my lot, in the midst of the devastation. That is whatI focus on, not on the devastation all around me.

Indeed, there are survivors who describe atranscendentally positive posttrauma life course andperspective on life. One of the most famous suchsurvivors is Viktor Frankl, who wrote about his sur-viving a German concentration camp and how hetranscended the horrific conditions of the camp andthe aftermath (Frankl, 1963). It is important toemphasize that all trauma experiences contain thecombination of both very troubling and potentiallyvery positive aspects in terms of the possible impacton one’s posttrauma life (Scurfield, 1985, 1994,2006c, 2006d. See the related concept of posttrau-matic growth, Calhoun & Tedeschi, 1998; Tedeschi& Calhoun, 1995). There is also the important conceptof adult resilience to trauma and loss. Resilience hasbeen defined as the ability to maintain a relativelystable equilibrium of healthy levels of psychologicaland physical functioning in the face of trauma andloss. Furthermore, it is not just the absence ofpathology; there also is a demonstrated capacity forgenerative experiences and positive emotions(Bonanno, 2004; Bonnano, Papa, & O’Neill, 2001.See also Kobasa, Maddi, & Kahn, 1982; McFarlane& Yahuda, 1996; Fosha, 2002). Such resilienceamong a number of Mississippi Gulf Coast residentshas been evidenced in the aftermath of Katrina.

There has been a very frequent and interrelatedset of positive changes that many survivors say hasoccurred as a result of Katrina. Their priorities havechanged. They are no longer attached to “things”like they had been—the large home, lots of fancyfurniture and possessions, and so on, are not nearlyas important now. One university colleague said,“Katrina forced me to downsize.” Another studentsaid, “I don’t want anything that I’ll have to drag to


the curb” (after it has become water logged withstorm surge or destroyed by hurricane-force winds).In fact, there is only one possession that most peo-ple seemed to still value after Katrina—photographsof loved ones and of happy memories. And so, thereis a much greater appreciation of simplifying lifedown to the basics. It’s the people, the relationships,being a good neighbor, community, their faith (in ahigher power and/or in humanity) that matter themost. What country singer George Strait sings in hissong You’ll Be There could have been written by aKatrina survivor who has discovered that personalpossessions are not that meaningful anymore: “Iain’t ever seen a hearse with a luggage rack.”

Metamorphosis of the University of SouthernMississippi—Gulf Coast Campus

The reestablishment of our campus at a temporarylocation an amazingly short 6 weeks after Katrinaprovides both a micro- and a mezzo-level example ofthe positives and hardiness that are interwoven withthe tragic loss of our campus. Our former Gulf Parkcampus had 326,000 square feet of classrooms,research laboratories, and other work space (Hebel,2006), nestled on a beautiful oak tree–filled campusfronting the Gulf of Mexico.

Subsequently, in moving to our temporary locationin what was an abandoned former hospital, on lessthan picturesque grounds, we are squeezed into 50,000square feet. Almost no faculty has an office. And yet amost amazing thing has happened in the midst of beingsqueezed into this single, rambling building retrofittedin 6 weeks to be a temporary campus. There is aremarkable and unprecedented sense of communityamong and across faculty and staff, colleges and pro-grams, and students. Yes, we are extremely crowded.And I know, by far, many more people on a first-nameand friendly basis in these 6 months than I knew in myprevious 7 years on the campus—and many other uni-versity employees have had the same experience. Thereis now a palpably and heightened shared camaraderie,collegiality, and friendship that envelop our universitycommunity. It is unprecedented, and it is beautiful.And, ironically, it never would have happened if not forHurricane Katrina.

Volunteers and Survivors Helping

We survivors of Katrina are, indeed, blessed by themagnificent and continuing generosity of giving that

has continued to come to the Gulf Coast from tensof thousands of volunteers. And the giving also hasbeen remarkable between fellow and sister survivorsof Katrina. The famous Navy Seabee motto, “cando,” has been beautifully carried out by the Seabeespost-Katrina. Most of the Seabees themselves andtheir families were victimized by Katrina. And yet,they were seemingly everywhere throughout the coastalcommunities, lending skilled hands and equipmentand their labor. And many other Mississippians alsohave displayed that very same can-do attitude andresilience. Ed Cake, volunteer and resident ofD’Iberville, described what happened in his commu-nity after it was devastated by Katrina (Lee, 2006):“We waited for FEMA to come,” Cake said. “Wewaited for the Red Cross to come. We waited for theSalvation Army to come. They never came, so we putit together ourselves.”

One illustration of the innumerable miracles ofself-help on the Coast involved St. Thomas theAquinas Catholic elementary school and church inLong Beach, our family church that had been oblit-erated by Katrina. In a remarkable 19 days, the NavySeabees and many volunteers constructed a newschool and chapel within a building that used to bea roller rink (FIXSt. Thomas, 2006). Our pastor,Louis Lohan, famous for his Irish wit and inspira-tion, remarked that “St. Thomas parishioners maybe the first Catholics who can truly be called ‘holyrollers.’”

The following letter beautifully expresses howtwo friends and neighbors here in Mississippidemonstrated in the more immediate aftermath ofKatrina both how neighbors were looking out foreach other and what to me is the essence of the mostpowerful learning point that can come shiningthrough in the aftermath of disasters such asKatrina.

One who lost everything still had much to give.Five days after the storm . . . I decided to ventureout and see who I could help. I have a young ladyfriend who lost everything and she decided to joinme. . . . We then proceeded to a low-income neigh-borhood in D’Iberville that was hit hard. Almostevery family we went to said they didn’t need any-thing, but the people down the street did. In this lit-tle community, they were looking out for each other.They were doing the best they could to spread theresources out amongst all of them. And my youngfriend was shaking hands, giving out meals, smilingand laughing. I watched her as she interacted witheveryone and I realized that even through her loss,


she found a way to give. She gave hope and joy andlove. That is the greatest lesson I learned: through itall, our spirit and lives are what live on. Thank you,my young friend, for the lesson. I will alwaysremember it. (Hafford, 2005)

Personally, in spite of how unsettling and divisivethe night before Katrina was when my family wasextremely split as to whether to evacuate or not, I amblessed to have a renewed and even enhanced appre-ciation of the importance of my relationship with mywife and daughter, with whom we experiencedtogether our harrowing survival of Katrina. And somany friends and relatives cared and reached outacross the miles. And those things have helped toprovide a potent antidote even to the toxic devasta-tion of a Katrina.

Where I am supposed to be. I had a most profoundrealization around the 6-month mark post-Katrina.I realized that this is where I am supposed to be—right now, right here. I feel like I would be desertingour community and university in their hour of great-est need if I had left, or if I leave before the recon-struction and healing have really advanced. And thatis not a knock on those who have made, or willmake, the decision to relocate elsewhere. So manyare displaced and temporarily living many milesaway, not sure if they will ever return or where theyeventually will settle. Each of us has to come to thatplace of inner realization and conviction of what isbest for us and our families (even if it is a veryambivalent decision)—and then to carry through onthat conviction to the best of our abilities. It does nogood to look back once that decision has been made.I am one of the fortunate ones who knows that I amblessed to be exactly where I know that I am sup-posed to be.

And so, along with the post-Katrina tasks facingindividuals and families, there are innumerable dev-astated neighborhoods and 12 devastated Mississippicoastal communities that face gigantic recovery andrebuilding challenges (El Nasser, 2005; Keller,2005; Pender, 2005a). In the words of an ancientYogic expression, “What you put attention on growsin your life.” We can choose to take the quicker fix(which still will take many years) and essentiallyrebuild our lives to BK (“Before Katrina”) levels andquality. Or, we can take the risk to choose to enteruncharted waters on a journey to attempt to fulfilla shared and carefully planned vision of recoveryand enhancement beyond what was—both for our

personal lives and communities. That is a gift thatmay come out of even such a massive tragedy asHurricane Katrina.

Acknowledgments

Several of the concepts in this article were pub-lished recently in a much briefer version (Scurfield,“Social work interventions at a Mississippi UniversityDevastated by Hurricane Katrina,” in Social WorkToday, Online January 2006 E-Newsletter).Also, I would be remiss notto emphasize the remarkable volunteer effort thathas been undertaken and is continuing by thousandsof people from throughout North America, from bothfaith-based and secular organizations, and volunteersand staff who are with numerous federal, state, andlocal organizations and municipalities. These volun-teers and staff truly have gone above and beyond andcontinue to come to the Gulf Coast to help in ourmassive recovery and rebuilding that is so sorelyneeded. Finally, I am amazed at how our universityfaculty, staff, and students have been able to con-tinue to provide and seek education and knowledgeunder the most trying of circumstances. I tip myhometown Super Bowl XL Champion PittsburghSteelers’ cap to y’all from the bottom of my heart.

References

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Bonanno, G. A., Papa, A., & O’Neill, K. (2001). Loss andhuman resilience. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 10,193-206.

Calhoun, C. G., & Tedeschi, R. G. (1998). Beyond recoveryfrom trauma: Implications for clinical practice andresearch. Journal of Social Issues, 59, 357-371.

Copeland, L. (2006, March 13). Thousands in Miss. are dis-placed but defiant. USA Today, p. 4A.

de Shazer, S. (1985). Keys to solutions in brief therapy.New York: Norton.

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Editor’s Notebook. (2005a, December 7). The first 100 daysafter Katrina: What is the enduring image of Katrina? TheSun Herald, p. C-4. Retrieved from www.SunHerald.com.

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Documents

Post-Katrina Aftermath and Helpful Interventions on the Mississippi