(Photo:Flickr/United States Government Work)

As the East Coast continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, a historic “superstorm” that claimed more than 120 lives in the United States and left an unthinkable path of destruction in its wake, Counseling Today reached out to a few American Counseling Association members living in affected areas. We asked them to share their thoughts on how counselors can be of help. Annette Schreiber, an ACA member and New Jersey resident who spent her time post-Sandy volunteering at a local American Red Cross shelter, is the next to share her thoughts.

Annette Schreiber, a newly recruited volunteer for disaster mental health with the Jersey Coast Chapter of the American Red Cross, was fortunate that Hurricane Sandy did not damage her Manahawkin, N.J., home. But her office, located on Long Beach Island, was under an evacuation mandate from the storm for more than two weeks, preventing her from working there.

“The building looks like it sustained no damage, so even though we were borrowing office space temporarily, it was frustrating that I couldn’t see my clients in my own office where we all were more comfortable with the familiar place,” Schreiber says. “I think yet another change in our lives was disconcerting to everyone, myself included.”

Despite those setbacks, Schreiber chose to be proactive and help those in the community hit hardest by the storm. On Oct. 28, the day before Hurricane Sandy hit, she began volunteering at an American Red Cross Shelter located at Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin.

Much of her time was spent walking throughout the shelter and simply talking with the people staying there, including numerous fragile older adults who needed reassurance. Other times, the nurses or other evacuees asked her to talk specifically to people who were having a difficult time.

“I think it would be a cliché to say that my experience as a volunteer at a Red Cross shelter was a life-changing experience, but I am changed,” she related to CT Online. “Putting on my Red Cross vest each day gave me a sense of pride and purpose, of being a part of something bigger than I imagined. Although my part of the operation is over, the Red Cross continues to play a huge part as we cope with the devastation wrought by Sandy.”

What Schreiber saw upon visiting the shelter when volunteering was both “sad and wonderful,” she says.

“I found myself both energized and exhausted. I saw my community come together to help those affected by the storm. One evening, one of the nurses said they needed pillows to prop up some of the elderly guests so that they could breathe more easily. I put a message out on my Facebook page that the shelter needed bed pillows. By time I left, someone had dropped off a half-dozen pillows, and a couple of the teen volunteers went out to BJ’s and brought back literally a carload of pillows. By the next day, the shelter had all they needed. The outpouring of generosity by my high school friends, and my community, was absolutely amazing. All differences we may have had, especially right before the election, were put aside to come together to help those in need. In the end, this is our community, our home, our school and our people.”

Schreiber says that before licensed mental health professionals begin volunteering at shelters, they need to be trained in disaster mental health, psychological first aid, crisis intervention, trauma and PTSD treatment, and critical incident work.

“I have over 100 CEUs in these areas,” she explains, “which is perhaps why, although this was my first experience at a Red Cross shelter, I felt very comfortable in what I was doing.”

Schreiber says it is important for counselors working in this environment to be “versatile, because you never know what is going to happen next. You may be helping not only the evacuees, but also staff members who are overworked and sleep deprived. You need to know how to listen and to find ways of joining with people. For example, I have lived in South Jersey all of my life, and one of my earliest memories is evacuating from Hurricane Donna in 1960. It seemed to help me develop rapport with evacuees when they knew that I’ve evacuated a few times myself. Also, by being local, there were sometimes connections from the past. I talked to one lady who had been a teacher at my old grade school.”

Currently, Schreiber and other counselors in the area are still providing emotional support to those affected by the storm.

“In certain circumstances, when done correctly by a trained professional, critical incident debriefing is appropriate,” she says. “Stress management is also important. Down the road, we are looking at possible acute stress disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder in both victims and first responders, so we have to be thinking about trauma treatment and more stress management of various kinds. People [have lost] their homes, possessions and livelihoods. Families are either split up, or have too much togetherness as they are taken in by relatives. Some people may have to relocate indefinitely. We help by listening, by helping them process the trauma [and] assist in the grieving process of losing important parts of their personal and family histories.”

Counselors living outside of the areas directly impacted by Sandy may also have clients touched by the disaster, Schreiber emphasizes.

“To a certain degree, people farther away are affected, especially if they have family or friends in the affected areas,” Schreiber says. “They can feel helpless that they are unable to be there to lend assistance, and sometimes feel guilty that they are in their own homes, warm and dry.”

In addition, when working with people affected by Sandy, counselors may be surprised at how resilient individuals are.

“We go in half expecting to find people weeping and wailing about their experience.  And there are some tears,” Schreiber says.  “But they often find things to laugh about, and they bond with other people: teenage volunteers with elderly people, or people who meet in the shelter, share the adventures and hardships, and I believe these friendships will last a very long time. And people were so grateful for small things.  Over and over again, the shelter ‘guests’ told me how nice everyone was and how much they appreciated what we could do for them.”

Read parts one, two and three in this series.

Heather Rudow is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Contact her at hrudow@counseling.org.

(Photo:Flickr/United States Government Work)

As the East Coast recovers from Hurricane Sandy, a historic “superstorm” that claimed more than 120 lives in the United States and left an unthinkable path of destruction in its wake, Counseling Today reached out to a few American Counseling Association members living in affected areas. We asked them to share their thoughts on how counselors can be of help in both the immediate aftermath of Sandy and also in the long term. Jane Webber, former president of the New Jersey Counseling Association and current member of the ACA Crisis Response Planning Task Force, is the next to share her thoughts.

Jane Webber, co-editor of Terrorism, Trauma and Tragedies: A Counselor’s Guide to Preparing and Responding, third edition, published by ACA, thought she would be one of those helping in recovery efforts for Hurricane Sandy. Instead, she is in the midst of recovering herself.

“I am a part of the New Jersey system for ready responders as a disaster response crisis counselor, and I was prepared to volunteer,” says Webber, a Jersey City resident. “I did not expect that Hurricane Sandy would also affect my community and me.”

“Sandy roared through our town and up our street like a monster,” she recalls. “It was the worst storm I have ever experienced, even when I grew up on the Jersey Shore. The next morning, we walked outside to downed trees and wires everywhere, and the poles and transformers are still a mangled mess.”

Webber’s house was not damaged during the storm or its aftermath. However, some of her neighbors were not so lucky.

As Webber related to CT Online on Sunday, Nov 4, “Many shore residents have no home to return to, and I count my blessings that we are OK. We have no heat, no power, no phone service. We pack up the car in the morning hoping to find a hotel vacancy, unpacking it at night and crawling under blankets in the dark. The temperature has dropped below freezing, and we slept in the basement last night where it was warmer. … The whole town is dark at night and perhaps three families are left in the neighborhood. We stand in line in the library for a spot to charge our cell phone from a generator and to share a little heat and our stories during the day.”

 Webber says those who experienced Sandy directly faced the possibility of death, which she calls the “ultimate existential experience.”

“Survivors may be deeply shaken as they reflect on their survival and their losses,” Webber says. “Families stay very close, and while some can begin to consider decisions about staying or leaving, rebuilding or abandoning, others are in shock or worrying about heat and food and just pulling it together each day. … Those who left may need your support when they can return to inspect the damage. I sat next to one woman at the hospital who said that she did not know her house was gone until she saw her destroyed neighborhood on the news.”

One of the main things counselors can do to help those recovering from Sandy is to be empathic, she says.

“Counselors are fully present, attending, supporting and lending an ear as survivors pull together [and] decide how, when and where to rebuild their lives,” Webber says. “In the immediate aftermath, counselors use psychological first aid rather than mental health counseling to help people going through a normal response to an abnormal event. We can assist individuals and families in empowering themselves toward recovery, and in time, through the overwhelming experience of gathering the remains of their homes [and] navigating through insurance, FEMA, unemployment and emergency assistance to continue.”

A great need exists for counselors living outside of affected areas to help, Webber says.

“Counselors in other areas can assist relocated individuals coping with separation and loss and making decisions about resettlement and employment in [what is] an already distressed job market,” she says. “Individuals may relive previous hurricanes or tornadoes, particularly if they live in certain geographic areas. Others may vicariously experience Hurricane Sandy through television news coverage and may need to ground themselves with your support. Each individual with traumatic experiences has a story to tell in order to move forward.”

Counselors can also be a primary resource in assisting individuals who have special needs as they recover from Sandy.

“Survivors with mental health problems and co-occurring disorders may be more vulnerable and in need of medication and additional support,” Webber says. “Shelter volunteers may not have the time or the training to provide assistance to persons with disabilities, and this is where outside counselors can play an important role in helping vulnerable clients in both the immediate aftermath and in the long-term recovery.”

Webber points out that counselors in areas hit by Sandy are dealing with their own hurricane experience and recovery, making it all the more important for outside counselors to help.

“[A colleague] and I have talked about the effect of contemporaneous trauma, when counselors have experienced the disaster personally [and are also] experiencing the impact of their client’s trauma from the same event. Few if any counselors have been untouched in the state,” she says.

For many residents in devastated towns, counselors included, the recovery process could extend for weeks and even months. Of particular concern in the days to come, says Webber, “are older individuals, those with multiple physical and emotional needs, and children and families who have been displaced or separated from their friends and relatives.”

Webber emphasizes that children need to be reassured that they are safe and encouraged to express their feelings.

“They may not have the words to describe the terror of the hurricane, and play is their universal language,” she says. “Parents and guardians need to be close to their children and respond honestly and sensitively to questions. Encouraging the child to play and talk first helps limit parents’ need to overexplain the disaster. … Long, dark nights without their favorite TV shows and possibly without cherished pets or stuffed animals can be very scary. Card and board games with family members are good ways to stay connected and pass the time.”

She also recommends watching Sesame Street Workshop videos, which address children’s feelings and questions about disasters.

Additionally, counselors can look at the suggested responses in the Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide, which Webber finds helpful. A free psychological first aid course is also available on the website.

Other recommendations Webber provides to counselors interested in helping in affected areas:

•  Teach individuals of all ages self-regulation techniques such as deep breathing and relaxation.
•  Do not pressure children or teens to talk when they are not ready.
• Let them know you will check with them again soon and find a better time to talk.
• Do not expect to conduct mental health counseling in the beginning. Psychological first aid is nonintrusive, brief, practical and empowering.
•  Do not self-deploy to another area. Register and deploy with a unit.
•  Do listen fully and attend as a compassionate “lurker.”

To prepare for future disasters, Webber recommends that ACA members “consider becoming a disaster mental health responder through the American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health training offered at the ACA Conference & Expo. You can also attend the Learning Institute, ‘Essentials of Disaster and Crisis Counseling,’ at the conference. You can also prepare by completing the FEMA courses, ICS 100 and NIMS 700, online or through your state disaster training unit.”

In the wake of Sandy, Webber says she is “amazed at the resilience of the human spirit after such horrific terror and destruction that often changes the way we view our world. Counselors may be most surprised by the power of post-traumatic growth. Neighbors help neighbors and strangers reach out with acts of remarkable kindness and compassion. Survivors often share their deepest human feelings about what they have been through, finding new meaning in their experience. They emerge from trauma stronger and more committed.”

Read parts one and two in this series.

Heather Rudow is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Contact her at hrudow@counseling.org.

(Photo:Flickr/United States Government Work)

As the East Coast recovers from Hurricane Sandy, a historic “superstorm” that claimed 110 U.S. lives and left an unthinkable path of destruction in its wake, Counseling Today reached out to a few American Counseling Association members living in affected areas. We asked them to share their thoughts on how counselors can be of help in both the immediate aftermath of Sandy and also in the long term. Next up to share her thoughts is Ilana Levitt, president of the New Jersey Counseling Association.

Ilana Levitt, a resident of East Brunswick, N.J., compared living in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy to “living in the Twilight Zone.”

“It’s almost a complete lockdown,” she says. “There’s no gas stations open, no food [stores open]. All businesses are shut down.”

Levitt is living in a home currently without power, which is making it, not surprisingly she says, “really cold.”

In addition to the discomfort, Sandy’s aftermath is also making things dangerous.

“An 80-foot tree [fell and] missed my dog by minutes and my house by feet,” she says.

Looking outside of her own personal experience through Sandy and viewing the disaster as a counselor, Levitt says crisis counseling, especially meeting disaster victims’ basic needs, is what is most acutely needed right now.

“There are immediate needs for food, clothing, medical supplies and the issues of loss, grief and finances are all going to come,” she says. “I think people can’t fully process what’s going on because they’re in the trauma phase right now. Even inland where I am right now, people are cold and need to eat.  People need to see family members and take care of basic needs before anything else.”

Levitt believes the full scope of the storm still remains to be seen. She says the immediate impact has been tremendous, but the actual full impact might not be known until later. The effects have ranged from people losing property to people sustaining injuries and finding themselves unable to get needed medications. The impact, Levitt says, has been widespread — financial, health and safety all included.

Levitt, a career counselor and consultant who runs a private practice, knows that the businesses destroyed during the storm and the time employees take off in its wake will have an impact, too.

“They say this is going to be the most costly storm in history,” she says.

The storm will also impact more than the roughly 14 states directly affected by the hurricane.

“Given new technologies and social media, counselors are in touch and working with people face-to-face, remotely and are connected in many ways,” Levitt says. “Counselors all over the world will end up interfacing with people who are impacted by this storm.  Businesses are so global now, [so] the effects of this will be seen for a long time.”

In terms of helping those recovering from Sandy, Levitt recommends counselors go through community or government programs — don’t show up without being asked or provide expertise in areas you are not familiar with.

Grief counseling isn’t appropriate in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster like Sandy, says Levitt. “Right now is about safety and stabilization.”

And when it comes to counseling storm victims in the weeks to come, Levitt says not to assume people want to talk. “Some people want to share their traumatic stories, other people may not,” she says. “You have to meet them where they are. There’s a huge range of emotional reactions, [and] a huge range of ways that people are impacted that we may not expect. ”

She also stresses the importance for counselors to remember self-care, as that can sometimes get lost in the midst of helping others cope. Levitt says she went to a yoga class as soon as it was possible for her to do so after Sandy hit. In addition, Levitt says, maintaining a positive spirit goes a long way.

Levitt says she is grateful for the role social media is playing in keeping residents connected. “Even without TV or radio, they still have Facebook and Instagram to show the devastation and keep information coming,” she says.

She is also amazed by the human spirit, the power of which is truly evident in a disaster such as Hurricane Sandy, she says.

“People are coming together even though there is enormous devastation,” Levitt says.  “I’m surprised by the damage but also by peoples’ strength.  It’s important to   also recognize the positive in a crisis.”

The New Jersey Counseling Association asks that any American Red Cross-certified member who wants to provide counseling contact their local Red Cross chapter. Visit the NJCA website for more information.

Read part one in this series.

Heather Rudow is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Contact her at hrudow@counseling.org.