Katrina: Resources and Recovery

Christopher Flynn, Ph.D.

Director, Counseling & Career Services

This is the first in a series of articles that will address the effects of Katrina, our responses, and our recovery from the storm. As we have all heard, Katrina was the largest natural disaster in the history of our country. For us in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast, Katrina’s effects were devastating and we are only now beginning the recovery process months after the storm hit. Katrina took the lives of more than a thousand New Orleanians, destroyed homes and possessions, and led to, what the news described recently, as the greatest migration in our country’s history. Each of us was directly affected by Katrina and many of our families, friends, and neighbors suffered tremendous losses. Even if we escaped the worst of Katrina’s horrors, we all were witness to the devastation as we watched the horrific scenes of destruction, flooding, fear, and death played time and again on television screens. Directly or vicariously, as a community we have experienced an enormous trauma and this trauma is now part of us as we deal with the aftermath of Katrina.

Even before the storm hit, I was on my way to Massachusetts to bring my son back to the College of the Holy Cross and to visit with family in the area. From this safe haven, I watched in horror as the storm hit and our city flooded trapping so many of our neighbors. Through the generosity of my colleagues at Holy Cross and Boston College, I was able to get access to fast computers and office space to begin to connect with members of the Loyola community. I was glad to be able do something and at the time, I would have said I was functioning fine; however, with the benefit of retrospection, it is clear that I was in shock and denial – overwhelmed, saddened and fearful at what had happened to our community and what might yet come in the months ahead. As a clinical psychologist, I realized at an intellectual level what was happening to me but that did not lessen the emotional effects. The many warnings and doomsday scenarios of the potential devastation of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane did little to prepare me for the emotional reaction of seeing people trapped by the floodwaters in our neighborhoods.

Sadly, shock, denial, horror, sadness, anxiety are the “normal” responses to the enormity of a trauma or disaster. It is near impossible to be prepared emotionally or intellectually for an event that lies outside of our experience. Katrina was a life-changing event for each of us. The ramifications for us are difficult to minimize with disruptions to our relationships with family and friends, to our school and work life, living circumstances, financial situation, career paths and more. Emotionally, we may each respond differently but it is hard to imagine that we will not be touched at a very profound level. The initial shock and denial may have lessened to some extent but as they are attenuated, we may face difficult choices and decisions about our future that may seem overwhelming. Some of us will continue to deal with loss and grief; for loved ones who have been taken from us, from loss of homes and possessions with their memories that make up our history, for lost relationships, and for the loss of what we knew as New Orleans Our emotional stability may feel more tenuous now than before, with a more rapid fluctuation of our moods. Basic physical rhythms such as sleep and eating patterns may be disrupted. Our relationships with family and friends may have been changed – a recent article in the Times-Picayune noted that over 20% of families are separated from each other now months later- and when we are with families, new tensions over finances, child care, and future may exist. Many of us experience stress physically and we may have more symptoms of headaches, fatigue, GI distress, and chest pain then before; pre-existing medical conditions can also be exacerbated by the stress we face. And as we come back to the city, or go through more changes, memories of the traumas we witnessed may result in a re-experiencing of shock again. These emotional reactions, some or all of them, are the consequences of trauma resulting from Katrina. We will address these issues in a series of articles that we will be disseminated over the next few weeks and I will give a partial list of topics below. Initially, I would just like to make some general points about recovery.

First, people are amazingly resilient and strong. While the storm may have shown some very negative events in our city, there were also great stories of strength and generosity. We saw many heroes in action, saving residents from rooftops, risking their own lives to assist us. Across the country, individuals and communities responded by opening their arms to our citizens. Colleges and universities across the country started bringing in our students, providing them with classes, room and board, and a temporary home. Students, faculty, and staff have helped each other and the community in many ways even while coping with their own difficulties. This resilience and strength will be important in the months and years to come.

Second, it is important to realize that recovery from any trauma or loss is a process that takes time. We know that it will take our city a significant amount of time to rebuild and we will need time to rebuild our lives. Grief is not a process that can be rushed and our feelings and thoughts need our attention. Oftentimes, we expect ourselves to rebound quickly from important events in our lives. Or we may look at others and see them functioning without apparent effort while we, by comparison, feel like we are still struggling. One of my favorite sayings of AA is “don’t judge your insides by someone else’s outside” and it is useful to remember that others may be struggling internally as well. The year following my father’s death was very difficult but, after the first anniversary of his death, it felt as though a burden had been lifted – no one else had died, we had survived, and I know he wanted me to move forward. But it takes time and each of us needs to attend to how long that will be for us.

Third, many of us lost our support network of family and friends during the storm. We may be living in cities far away from loved ones and from each other. As much as Loyola students may appreciate their temporary homes at schools across the country, they long for each other and for home. We each need to reach out to the important others in our lives, by phone, email, and visits – to rebuild and reinforce the human bonds that connect us to each other. Now is not the time to go it alone and allow a sense of isolation or alienation to accentuate our grief. While it is hard to reach out and be vulnerable, it is good for us to connect with others - and we may be helping them at the same time. Identify those individuals who make you feel better and stay in touch. If you feel that others may not be available or too upset to help you, consider talking to a professional counselor or spiritual advisor.

Fourth, in the aftermath of Katrina, many of us will feel overwhelmed and out-of-control. The task of rebuilding our lives and our city feels enormous. Reinhold Niebuhr was talking to us when he wrote: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” We will each need to assess what factors are in our control or outside of our control. We can address the basic needs that we talk about as self-care. We each need to make sure our basic needs are met including eating properly, getting enough sleep, and exercising as regularly as possible. Scheduling our time carefully, allowing enough time for friends and family, and relaxation are even more important when we are under stress. Disruptions in sleep may be the most common sign of stress and we will talk about that in a later article. The temptation to seek short-term relief from stress in substances may be great. Some research shows that under stress individuals may return to smoking or increase smoking, drink more alcohol than is typical or healthy, or experiment with other substances. All indications are that these avenues are more detrimental to our physical and emotional health in the long-term.

My staff and I will continue to address these concerns over the next weeks and months in these articles. We have articles in development addressing children and trauma, resilience, and self-expression through journals. We are also available for consultation by email, telephone, and in person at Loyola (see our website at http://www.loyno.edu/counsel.career/). Our telephone number is 504.865.3835. Feel free to contact us via email (mine is flynn@loyno.edu). I know that Fr. Eddie Gros, S.J. and his staff are available at University Ministry. Until we can meet on campus, the Center staff will reach out in a number of ways; through chat room discussions for community members, with a section of the website dedicated to stories of survival and recovery from community members, and these articles. Please let me know if there is anything we can do for you or if there is something that you would like to suggest for us to address specifically.

Updated on November 5, 2005