TLC Hurricane Relief Effort

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TLC MEMBER NETWORK STAY IN TOUCH! If you are a member of the TLC family and have a message, link, or information that you would like posted here please send an email, pdf or Word document to the TLC Webmaster. Thank you for staying in touch! Posted 9/30/05 Greetings from Monroe, Louisiana from Judi Speir-Crawford, Ann Arbor Mich. and Maureen Barber, Monroe, LA. We've been very busy using our training and the material from TLC to work with both children and adult survivors and volunteer helpers. We've trained teachers of 3 Catholic elementary and secondary schools that have a combination of over 300 evacuee children. We also have trained volunteers at a Church of Christ, which included a principal and teachers of a large Church of Christ school as well as a local private school in the area. We've worked with 4th, 5th, & 6th graders with Brave Bart and they all loved it. On Monday we are scheduled to do a staff debriefing for a school faculty. And now we are ready to branch out with people in campgrounds; city schools; and possibly in FEMA and Red Cross shelters. We have people who have attended our trainings who are trying to pave the way to help us gain access to these facilities and want to practice training with us. Thank you, Bill and TLC for our training and materials to make all of this possible in these desperate times. Judi Speir-Crawford, Ann Arbor Michigan and Maureen Barber, Monroe, Louisiana Posted 9/27/05 We have placed 12 students from New Orleans in our middle school, 6,7, & 8th grades. We have met in debriefing group and also worked with individuals. The families have appreciated (TLC) materials sent home with the students. Joella Chew, School Counselor, Coppell ISD, Coppell, Texas Posted 9/21/05 Hi TLC...from your biggest fans in Frisco, Texas! YES...I SAID WE KNOW WE ARE YOUR BIGGEST FANS! That being said...when the dust settles down a bit, I want to share with you all we are accomplishing with the 220 children "gently placed" in our district due to Katrina...we are using EVERY bit of our materials from TLC with 8 of us TLC trained over the past 2 years...myself 6 years! Also, of the 7...three are LPC! We are using your materials in a unique way. Using What Color Is Your Hurt? We are having FIVE schools at a time, bused to a central campus of THREE schools where TLC trained specialists are breaking into small groups for our program. Then, they are bused back to there home campus for lunch! 15 SCHOOLS, 8 SESSIONS for 8 consecutive days with Sat & Sun off. We have also completed a dinner parent educational meeting where we presented Trauma Responses in Children, What Parents Can Do...Q & A and outreach with sign up to begin adult support groups. We also have completed our first group of 13 Elementary students in What Color... as a trial run. Middle & High School groups as well. DO NOT KNOW what we would have done with out your training. If you can get me about 3-6 more Brave Bart Books...I would appreciate it... You are a BLESSING! Patti Kubanet, Frisco ISD, Frisco, Texas Posted 9/19/05 Just to let you know. Here in Broward County, Florida (Ft. Lauderdale area) the Red Cross has processsed over 1000 families who have fled the Gulf Coast area. I have also assisted with Hurricane Recovery operations for those affected by the storm when it came through our County. Asuncion Kahn (also TLC trained) and myself have been assisting at the service center by providing mental health counseling to clients, Red Cross workers and Emergency Responders.We are also connecting with the Broward County School system, where we are employed in our day jobs, to assist Guidance Counselors and teachers whose schools are receiving the children of these families. We really have appreciated the great info placed on the TLC website related to discussing the storm, etc. with students in the classroom. THANKS!! We will bring you up to date later when we have a little more time to write. Patricia Bledsoe, Broward County, Florida Posted 9/19/05 Thanks for (sending) your (email) message and your interest in helping. We're operating special needs shelters for the city and have about 300 +/- evacuees now; plus, there are several thousand still in the larger city shelters. Many people have already left or are making plans, others may be here for quite some time. It's difficult to say at this point what the need will be over the next 2 weeks. I've been surprised to find that so far the majority of folks in our shelters are much more concerned about the immediate physical and social needs such as connecting with family, getting the FEMA and Red Cross assistance money, medical, etc, and not so much with trauma debriefing. I've never been involved with a disaster of this magnitude, but people are telling me this is fairly normal... and maybe that debriefing need is just around the corner. Anyway, if you are available and want to come down, I'm sure that you could be helpful. Most of the kids are in school during the day, but would probably enjoy and benefit from some debriefing work, as would the adults. This must sound non-commital, and I really don't mean to hedge; it's just hard to knowwhat the population and need will be like two weeks out, and I know it is a large commitment of time and finances for you. All that being said, if you are interested, we'd love to have you! What do you think, based on your past experiences? Thank you also for your kind words of concern and support. Best regards. Richard, Baptist Child and Family Services, San Antonio, Texas Posted 9/12/05 Thanks for all of the info on your website. I am hopeful that my supervisor with the London District Catholic School Baord will allow me to go to San Antonio if they are still looking for volunteers for up to a two-week period of time. I don't know if there is any other way we can help but if there is please know that we hopefully could do whatever is necessary and your Canadian friends are thinking about you and the gulf area at this very difficult time. Not only have I benefitted from your wonderful training, but I also am a registered art therapist (with the AATA) and would welcome the opportunity to help. Barb Dorrington, London District Catholic School, London, Ontario, Canada Posted 9/12/05 I am deploying to Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, tomorrow for 10 days. My assignment is the EOC, setting up a childrens center, and supporting the superintendent. My TLC training and the BRAVE BART books will be utilizied. Barb Alexander, Benito Middle School, Tampa, Florida Posted 9/11/05 I want to commend you on the wonderful response and usefullness of the website info. I am currently volunteering as Director of Client Care at Abigayle Ministries, which provides temporary housing, training in child birth, parenting, and life skills for single pregnant women and their children and also support gorups and material assistance to women in the community. We are in the process of getting sponsorship for some evacuees, as we should be able to house a few. We have learned of 350 evacuees in Battle Creek, so we will be visiting there this week to see who we can bring in. I am very grateful for the training I have received from TLC and also for the currently posted info and links. Blessings to you and all who are involved in this effort. Mary Cassady, Ph.D., Abigayle Ministries, Clinton Township, Michigan Posted 9/9/05 I appreciate you keeping us in the loop and updating your information to fit the situation. I would give anything to be able to go to he distressed area to work with the evacuees but am working full time. Georgia is setting up aid centers so perhaps that is an option for me. Thanks for all you do to keep us informed and for all of the support you are giving to those in need. Carol Smith, Vickery Creek Middle School, Cumming, Georgia Posted 9/9/05 Are there any other TLC people in Arizona? We have 1200 displaced people here. I would be willing to spearhead efforts here to work with these people. Kathy Mohr-Almeida, Mesa, Arizona Posted 9/9/05 FYI: I called and they have been getting quite a few phone calls from the TLC members. Right now they have a call out for housing for the volunteers and as soon as they get that set up they will be contacting us. We have to get there on our own and there is no specific time line right now regarding on how long we will be needed. They are in definite need of "counselors" according the the person I spoke with. Phyllis Copioli, Chippewa Valley Schools, Sterling Heights, Michigan Posted 9/9/05 Thank you for all of the work you are doing. I wish I could do more. Unfortunately, I am pregnant and on bed rest right now! Nonetheless, I am proud to be affiliated with TLC. Keep up the good work. Gina Cristiano, MSW, LISW, Dayton, Ohio Posted 9/9/05 I've appreciated the updates and will work on some funding for Brave Bart books. As of today I've been approved as a Mental Health worker with ARC and expect to be called for shelter work in the near future. Hearing about all the children it's been really frustrating that there really don't seem to be any services focused on their needs, but at least the mental health workers have a degree of flexibility that includes children, so I decided this is the best I can do at this time. I will take Brave Bart with me and as much paper and colored pencils as I can carry! One good thing is the large number of people throughout the country who have had TLC training in the past few years. We're certainly going to use it! Carol Fowler, Kid's Center, Jackson, Michigan Posted 9/9/05 Thank you all for the wonderful and comprehensive material you have posted to help those who are facing the effects of Hurricane Katrina. It is also helpful for those of us who are providing support to them. Here in Tallahassee, Florida, The Red Cross is opening additional shelters for evacuees, and the schools are making way for the children/teens from affected areas. Our program provides school and community based grief support to children, teens, and their caregivers. We had e-mailed some information about how to help children following Katrina to all the guidance counselors in our county, but we plan on e-mailing it to outlying counties as well. I will certainly add TLC to the resource list! Again, thank you for the valuable information. Pam Mezzina, Senior Counselor, Caring Tree Program of Big Bend Hospice, Tallahassee, FL Posted 9/9/05 Our team from Baptist Child and Family Services has been deep in the work in San Antonio. Our agency was asked by the state to provide the special needs shelters. We have serviced approx. 500 people who are frail, elderly, newborn, or mentally, physically or emotionally challenged. One day you and I can visit about both Sri Lanka and Katrina! My best to TLC and thanks for the training! We're still learning a lot from this experience! Marla Rushing, Director, Baptist Child and Family Services, San Antonio, Texas Posted 9/9/05 Thank you for the valuable information! Charlene Emanuel, School Counselor, Emile Elementary, Bastrop, Texas Posted 9/9/05 Email sent to Student Services Staff, Pasco, Florida "Many of you are familiar with the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC) and their Director, Bill Steele. Bill has conducted several trauma and grief trainings for Pasco's Student Services staff in recent years and several of our Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) members have completed the Center's Trauma Certification Training. Many of the resources/books used by Pasco's CIT were developed by TLC, including Brave Bart (children dealing w/ a traumatic event), Shadow Moves (children dealing w/ a traumatic move) and Trauma Response Teams in the Schools. TLC has always been quick and generous in their response to our nation's crises. Following 9/11, TLC offered free resources and books to many school districts. Again, with Hurricane Katrina they are offering information and resources to families and schools. Please access their (website) for a wealth of good materials--including sample classroom presentations, letter to parents, understanding the Cajun Culture--to assist students, families and schools to respond to and recover from Hurricane Katrina." Cathy Rapp, District School Board of Pasco County, Land O' Lakes, Florida Posted 9/9/05 Thank you for the info! we are expecting any where between 200 - 400 refugees at our school in the future. I will contact you if we need help. P. Janet Pertera, L.L.Hotchkiss Elementary, Dallas Texas Posted 9/9/05 Dear Dr. Steele, Thank you for the information. I will share it with my counselors. By Friday we had over 50 students enrolled from the hurricane along the Gulf. We expect more on Tuesday. Thanks. Judy Picot, Killeen ISD, Kileen, Texas Posted 9/9/05 I am so grateful for all the materials I have collected over the years through TLC. We in Frisco ISD have a few counselors trained through TLC & all your materials are making my job at coordinating interventions so much easier! I am so thankful for all your effort in keeping our skills "second to none"! The materials & web sight are awesome. Frisco, Texas has many victims transferring here & I am happy to have the tools necessary for an appropriate response. Blessings, Patti Kubanet, RN CNS, Certified Trauma & Loss Specialist, Frisco ISD Hope Rising Program Posted 9/8/05 I was looking at your website regarding different cultures using the trauma intervention process - about modifying it - up here we are working on adjusting the intervention specific to our Tribal population. Two things come to mind: 1. If people are naturally oral story tellers (like up here) then it's just a matter of getting them talking because they usually address the intervention questions anyway - like you have taught those times to keep yourself out of it. Also if I have initially gave them the questions or suggestions of what they could incorporate in the story i.e. that I want to feel what they saw, smelled, heard etc., then let them tell it, my experience has been I haven't had to intervene much... mostly because up here, and especially with an elder it's impolite to interrupt them anyway when they are telling a story or talking - even to intervene. 2. Another thing to find out is what a persons traditions/ beliefs etc. Regarding death and when bad things happen. Up here when someone dies - a traditional funeral involves 4 days - with a sacred fire, praying, feasts, and the family stays with the body for those days. Very simplified- the belief is that your helping the spirit of the person crossover to the spirit world (and with most Native cultures the spirit world is with us not far away in Heaven)... so all that one does is important for them to have a safe and good journey. Up here it is important to know that for a period of time you aren't suppose to say the persons name. Also up here some more traditional people won't talk about bad, evil once the sunsets. And for the trauma intervention - we are figuring out a way to use the sacred fire because I have a family that wants to take out the parts of their trauma workbook that has the awful things that happened and "give them up to the Creator by putting those pages in a sacred fire." So it's great that you put that stuff in about culture because the basics of all the trauma information is universal ... it's just allowing people to adjust it to their ways to be most helpful. I will let you know once we have our ideas about modifications (Native style) to the trauma intervention workbooks/process in a more coherent form to run by you. Thanks again for all your hard work. Kathleen Witkowsk, TLC Consultant Supervisor, Sault St. Marie, Michigan CHANGE OF ADDRESS Have you moved? Changed email or phone? Click here to update! http://www.tlcinstitute.org This information is made available courtesy of The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC), a non-profit 501(c)3 program of Children's Home of Detroit (CHD). If you have questions that you would like to ask our TLC Certified Trauma Specialist on staff, or would like a recommendation for a TLC Certified Trauma Specialist in your area, please call TLC toll-free at 877-306-5256 or email us at steele@tlcinst.org