Listening

There is a mental health crisis occurring on the Gulf Coast. The stress and strain of the past 31 months is becoming entrenched for people who have not been able to recreate normalcy in the wake of Katrina. Every negative statistic has increased: suicide, divorce, domestic abuse...some Universities are studying the trends.

There are so many needs and there is one thing that we can all do to help: Listen. Actively listening to someone, being completely present to hear their stories and assure them that they have been heard, will provide a measure of healing. To that end, Dr. Irene McIntosh is sending out "Listening Teams" this week throughout D'Iberville. Yesterday, she oriented volunteers how to listen to people so that they feel supported. The teams called residents to schedule appointments starting today. They will visit with people for whom Katrina is still an every day presence. They will share banana bread, kind smiles and sit and listen for as long as the citizens want to talk.

That might sound kind of simplistic, but gauging from the level of recovery present in D'Iberville, it works. It is a human characteristic that in order to make sense of disaster we need to talk about it, process the information and feelings that arise, and then we can turn the visceral from a current event to a memory.

If you'd like to find out more about this program and how you can help, please email me.

ellakliger@gmail.com