Counseling interns learning lessons of life.Abstract Service Learning has long been a key component of the counseling internship at the University of Houston Clear Lake. However, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita swept the interns up into the winds of service learning on the levels of education, community involvement and personal survival. Having sat with the children evacuees Resident or transient persons who have been ordered or authorized to move by competent authorities, and whose movement and accommodation are planned, organized and controlled by such authorities. of Hurricane Katrina  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. , watching
them draw the images of their hurricane and evacuation experiences and
discussing the emotions which accompanied these events, gave the
counseling students of UHCL UHCL University of Houston - Clear Lake (Texas) service learning experiences far beyond what
any text book could offer. The counseling interns were better prepared,
through direct experience with their own trauma of evacuation from
Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast in September 2005. and the indirect experience of working with evacuees of
Hurricane Katrina, to be able to effectively address the needs of future
clients who may be suffering from the trauma of natural disasters.Introduction Houston, Texas “Houston” redirects here. For other uses, see Houston (disambiguation). Houston (pronounced /'hjuːstən/) is the largest city in the state of Texas and the , and the surrounding areas of southeast Texas Southeast Texas is a subregion of East Texas located in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The subregion is geographically centered around the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown and Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan areas. had been inundated in·un·date tr.v. in·un·dat·ed, in·un·dat·ing, in·un·dates 1. To cover with water, especially floodwaters. 2. with evacuees from New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded after Hurricane Katrina. The shelters and schools were over-flowing with traumatized adults, children and families. The local Red Cross was so over-whelmed by the need to provide emotional support and crisis counseling that they could not keep up with the needs of these evacuees. Instead of the usual eight-hour Red Cross training required of any credentialed counselor before being allowed to provide services in a Red Cross facility, the rules were relaxed so a four-hour training session qualified licensed counselors and University of Houston Clear Lake (UHCL) counseling interns to provide services to people being housed by Red Cross shelters during this particular disaster. UHCL counseling interns were in the final semester of a fifty-four-semester-hour degree plan. This community disaster provided the setting for use of the Service-Learning Model used in the Counseling Internship class at UHCL. Counseling Interns, working under the supervision of their professor who was a licensed counselor, were assigned to work the Astro Dome and other Red Cross shelters through out the area. In addition to the three-semester-hour-required-class in Crisis Counseling and the four-hour Red Cross Course, Texas Mental Health Counselors Association, a division of Texas Counseling Association and the university collaborated to sponsor a seminar on "Counseling and Empowering Survivors of Disaster" scheduled for September 23, 2005. Interns' Own Crisis In the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of city officials and community crises teams working double and triple time to provide physical and emotional support for the New Orleans evacuees, residents of Houston and Galveston went through their own crisis of Hurricane Rita. Even though the area was spared a direct hit, the residents and students experienced the fear and displacement of the largest evacuation in the history of the United States “American history” redirects here. For the history of the continents, see History of the Americas. The United States of America is located in the middle of the North American continent, with Canada to the north and the United Mexican States to the south. as 2.5 million people ran from the storm. When the evacuees returned, all had their own stories to tell and were so emotionally drained that they had little left to give to others. The seminar was rescheduled for September 30, to not only teach crisis counseling skills counseling skills, n the acquired verbal and nonverbal skills that enhance communication by helping a medical professional to establish a good rapport with a patient or client. but now to provide support for the counselors and counseling interns who had to deal with their own post-evacuation trauma symptoms. William Steel, founder and director of The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC TLC total lung capacity; thin-layer chromatography. TLC abbr. 1. thin-layer chromatography 2. ) was the keynote speaker who drew from over 35 years of experience in the field of trauma, his extensive research and practice with the TLC. Other topics included stages of grief, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) A disorder that occurs among survivors of severe environmental stress such as a tornado, an airplane crash, or military combat. Symptoms include anxiety, insomnia, flashbacks, and nightmares. , behavioral interventions, debriefing de·brief·ing n. 1. The act or process of debriefing or of being debriefed. 2. The information imparted during the process of being debriefed. Noun 1. , use of drawings in trauma resolution and how to take care of one's self by one's self; without help or prompting; spontaneously. See also: Of as a health care provider (Steele, 2001; Steele, Ginns-Gruenberg & Lemerand, 1995). Additional classroom academic preparation was provided through the review of the work of Lazarus and Jackson (1993), Lonigan, Shannon, Finch and Daugherty (1991), Shaw, Applegate and Tanner (1995). Community-Based Opportunities for Learning This community-based approach to teaching and learning provided opportunities for counseling interns to discover linkages between the theory and practice of counseling in a true community crisis setting. Active and cooperative learning cooperative learning Education theory A student-centered teaching strategy in which heterogeneous groups of students work to achieve a common academic goal–eg, completing a case study or a evaluating a QC problem. See Problem-based learning, Socratic method. took place within the interdisciplinary project of caring for hurricane evacuees just has writers of previous disasters had reported (Colby, Ehrlich, Beaumont, & Stephens, 2003; Ward & American Association American Association refers to one of the following professional baseball leagues:
Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. , 1999). Medical, psychological, housing, and food needs were met by varying federal, state, city, church and university teams. As Butler (2000) discusses, so was the case here when the multicultural experiences proved invaluable as cultures blended and clashed among the cots in the shelters and on the streets and school hallways of Houston and the surrounding area. Reflection Opportunities The Counseling Interns participated in a variety of structured reflection that included class presentation of case studies in which they reviewed an evacuee's history, hurricane and evacuation experience, presenting symptoms, and plan for recovery. The presentations were followed by class discussions of each case study and the class's emotional reaction to each presentation. Experiencing the emotional pain of disaster directly and indirectly through hearing fellow students' experiences made it impossible to be apathetic ap·a·thet·ic adj. Lacking interest or concern; indifferent. ap  a·thet to
the plight of others (Loeb, 2001; Young, 2003). The students were
required to journal after each experience with evacuees; the journaling
addressed not only their interaction with the people but the
students' emotional and intellectual reaction to their experiences
(Rhoads & Howard, 1998). Counseling interns were kept under close
observation to identify any signs of secondary post-traumatic stress,
which is a common problem even among seasoned counselors working with
trauma victims. Support systems were set up within the class for
students to provide peer support, as well as having access to the
professor at any time. This was effective modeling for the students to
set up needed collegial col·le·gi·al adj. 1. a. Characterized by or having power and authority vested equally among colleagues: "He . . . support once they graduate and enter the counseling profession. Journal Excerpts The following is an excerpt from an intern's journal: "I thought hurricanes and Ritas came frozen in a glass with alcohol. I didn't know that when you combined the two, you got a toxic combination--long lines at the bank, long lines In communications, circuits that are capable of handling transmissions over long distances. at the gas station, long lines on the freeway, and no water or ice to be had in any store. With 9/11, the Tsunami, hurricane Katrina, hurricane Rita, and now the earth quake in Pakistan, it does feel like God is trying to tell us something. I haven't decided if it is a sign that the world is coming to an end or if it is a sign to get as much out of life as you can. I tend to believe that it is a sign to get the most out of life. Tell family and friends how much you love them. Take time for your children, Make up with people you have fought with. Enjoy the simple things. Give to those who are not as fortunate as you take a stray dog or cat to the local shelter.... If the Human Race could get our act together, we do have the ability to make a change. We can make things better and make sure we are better prepared for the next disaster or catastrophe." Nikki Another entry: "107 (so far) dead in Houston from the storm that didn't come. So far, One Hundred and Seven people died from the evacuation of 2.5 million people from their homes. A 2-year old Houston girl crushed beneath the wheels of a pickup; a Sugar Land man and his two young children fatally pitched from their overturning car near Madisonville; a 92 year-old La Marque La Marque (lə märk), city (1990 pop. 14,120), Galveston co., SE Tex., in an agricultural and oil area; settled c.1860, inc. 1953. A residential suburb of Texas City, La Marque was originally a farm settlement and later became a railroad woman dead after losing consciousness while stuck in highway gridlock--Hurricane Rita's tales of sorrow rolled in as the death toll climbed. It's going to take a long time for me to not be pissed off about this. First off, no one is going to say that evacuating the country's 4th largest city would be easy. But an evacuation plan for that many people must consist of something besides run!" Nikki Another entry in the form of Haikus by Candace Sexton
Shock
Frustrated, tight jaws
Everything is Life or Death
Easily startled
2 A.M.
We stood at the door,
Just wanting to say goodbye.
Will the house still stand?
The Refuges
We can't go anywhere.
Where else can we go from here?
We are refugees.
Refrigerator Art Project To provide structure for the interactions between counseling students and child evacuees, the "Refrigerator Art.... When There is No Refrigerator" project was used. This project was based on the art therapy concepts of Gross & Hayne (1998), Riley & Malchiodi (1994), (Steele (1997, 2001) and Webb (1991). The students were given the following instructions: 1. Gather materials to take with you to shelters. Small bags of crayons or markers to be used by and then given to the child Paper with parental permission form on back. Extra paper to be left with child 2. Establish rapport as you would with any child and the parent. 3. Ask the child to draw pictures of their experience or feelings. Suggested topics: What happened to them. What their house/dog/things looked like. What they would like their new house/pet/school/church to look like. Their family before the storm Their family after the storm The friends that they miss the most Their favorite thing to do at home Picture of themselves and color where it hurts inside when they remember the storm 4. Secure child's permission to take the picture with you. 5. Secure parental permission to use the picture for educational purposes: to show to your professor and other counselors. Have parent sign the permission form on the back of the paper on which the child has drawn their picture. If child has drawn more than one picture on multiple pages, only one signature is necessary. 6. Write down statements made by the child and/or parent after you leave them. Write them on the back of the drawing, where the parent has given permission. 7. Put your name on the back of the picture and the location (Dome, Tex. City Shelter, etc.) When the students returned to class with their portfolios of Art Therapy, they each shared some of the artwork, the children's responses to the project, and their own responses. Some of the children's statements follow: * "People were being raped and hit on. People were actually dieing everywhere. I miss the Oakwood Mall Oakwood Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The mall features over 100 stores including restaurants and a food court. Anchor Stores include: J.C. , my house and places I love to go to. I just can't think about how horrible it was." Taylor, age 11 * "I am sad because people are dying, mad because they're coming to Houston." Jerome, age 12 * "This is my house underwater. We came here in a car. I want to go home" Zhane, age 8 * "We were at a church in Louisiana, but then the water started to get too high. I had to walk in the water out of the church. The water was brown and had cockroaches cockroaches insects which may carry Salmonella spp. in their gut and play a part in the spread of the disease. in it." Leiona, age 7 * "The rain came up to here. (her hand above her head). I thought I was going to drown" Fabiana, age 4 * "God came down and saved me. I had a dream that my mom died in the storm. She drowned and all I could see were her bones. It was really scary. Hurricane Katrina died. I thought that I was going to die. I'm a survivor!" Sandernisha, age 5 Having sat with these children, watching them draw the images of their hurricane and evacuation experiences and discussing the emotions which accompanied these events, gave the counseling students of UHCL service learning experiences far beyond what any text book could offer. The counseling interns who would graduate at the end of the semester were better prepared, through direct experience with their own trauma of evacuation from Hurricane Rita and the indirect experience of working with evacuees of Hurricane Katrina, to be able to effectively address the needs of future clients who may be suffering from the trauma of natural disasters. References Butler, J. E. (2000). Democracy, diversity and civic engagement. Academe, 84(4). Colby, A., Ehrlich, T., Beaumont, E., & Stephens, J. (2003). Educating citizens: Preparing America's undergraduates for lives of moral and civic responsibility: Jossey-Bass. Gross, J. & Hayne, H. (1998). Drawing facilitates children's verbal reports of emotionally laden events, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 4, 163-179. Lazarus, P.J. & Jackson, J. (1993, May). When the walls come tumbling down: Crisis issues following hurricane disasters. NASP NASP National Association of School Psychologists NASP National Aerospace Plane NASP National Association of Safety Professionals NASP National Application Service Provider NASP National Association for Shoplifting Prevention NASP National Airport System Plan Communique, 21 (7), 16-18. Loeb, P. R. (2001, July/August). Against apathy: Role models for engagement. Academe, 87. Lonigan, C. J., Shannon, M. P., Finch, A. J., & Daugherty, T.K. (1991). Children's reactions to a natural disaster: Symptoms, severity and degree of exposure. Advances in Behavior Research Therapy, 13,135-154. Rhoads, R. A., & Howard, J. (1998). Academic service learning: A pedagogy of action and reflection. San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden : Jossey-Bass Publishers. Riley, S. & Malchiodi, C. A. (1994). Integrative approaches to family art therapy. Chicago: Magnolia Street Publishers. Shaw, J. A., Applegate, B., & Tanner, S. (1995). Psychological effects of Hurricane Andrew This article is about the 1992 hurricane; there was also a Tropical Storm Andrew during the 1986 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Andrew is the second-most-destructive hurricane in U.S. history, and the last of three Category 5 hurricanes that made U.S. on an elementary school elementary school: see school. pooulation. Journal of the American Academy The American Academy in Berlin is a non-partisan academic institution in Berlin. It was founded in September 1994 by a group of prominent Americans and Germans, among them Richard Holbrooke, Henry Kissinger, Richard von Weizsäcker, Fritz Stern and Otto Graf Lambsdorff and opened in of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry A branch of psychiatry that specialises in work with children, teenagers, and their families. History An important antecedent to the specialty of child psychiatry was the social recognition of childhood as a special phase of life with its own developmental stages, starting with , 34, 1185-1192. Steele, B. (1997). Trauma response kit: Short-term trauma intervention model. Grosse Pointe Grosse Pointe (grōs point), name referring to five residential suburbs of Detroit, Wayne co., SE Mich. They include the city of Grosse Pointe (1990 pop. 5,681), inc. 1879; Grosse Pointe Farms, city (1990 pop. 10,092), inc. 1893, on Lake St. Woods, Ml: Institute for Trauma & Loss in Children. Steele, W. (2001). Using drawing in short-term trauma resolution, In C. A. Malchiodi, The Clinical Handbook of Art Therapy. New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : The Guilford Press. Steele, W., Ginns-Gruenberg, D., & Lemerand, P. (1995). I feel better now! Leader's guide. Grosse Point Woods, MI: The National Institute for Trauma & Loss in Children. Ward, H., & American Association for Higher Education. (1999). Acting locally: Concepts and models for service-learning in environmental studies. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education. Webb, N. (1991). Play therapy crisis intervention crisis intervention Psychiatry The counseling of a person suffering from a stressful life event–eg, AIDS, cancer, death, divorce, by providing mental and moral support. See Hotline. with children. In N. B. Webb (Ed.) Play therapy with children in crisis (pp. 26-42). New York: The Guilford Press. Young, J. R. (2003, April 11). Persuading students to care. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 49. A47. Darline Hunter, University of Houston Clear Lake Hunter, Ed. 19., is Assistant Professor of Counselor Education in the College of Education. |
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