Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast states in August of 2005, causing substantial damage to the area.  Almost 2,000 people lost their lives as a direct result of the hurricane, and property damage was estimated to be well over $80 billion. Particularly hard hit was New Orleans, Louisiana, when the levee system failed under the weight of the rising flood waters. Numbers are easy to place on this kind of loss.  What’s not so easy is to estimate the toll this disaster took on the emotional and mental well-being of the people who lived through and survived the event.

The Children’s Health Fund and The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University have published a 17-page status report (.pdf, 199k) that does put some numbers to show how the gulf coast children are faring five years later. Those numbers are disturbing.  Some of their more poignant and startling findings:

• 20,000 children originally displaced by the disaster now have “serious emotional disorders, behavioral issues, and/or are experiencing significant housing instability.”
• These same children are 450% more likely to experience emotional disturbance than they were in a similar study that was conducted in 2004.
• Over one-third of the middle or high school students are in a grade lower than is common for their age. By comparison, this figure is less than 20% for students in the southern states in general.
• Half of the parents have not been able to get professional help for their children.
• A third of the parents reported emotional distress of some kind due to the more recent oil spill in that region.

Among the most affected in the area were the ones with the fewest resources:

Since children and families who had the means fled the city, those who were left were often the poorest and most vulnerable. These populations became the most dependent on the government’s efforts to help in the recovery process, and were the most affected when those efforts were less than sufficient.

Clearly, although houses and buildings are being rebuilt, many lives are going neglected.

The report goes on to make key recommendations, including a system for tracking effected children and families, targeting mental health services for the area, and making stable housing a priority.  Given these statistics, this would be a great time for the government to step up and put money where it really counts: The children and families whose lives continue to live under the weight of Katrina.

Technorati Tags: Hurricane Katrina, disaster preparedness, mental health, counseling

Here are some articles and blog posts pertaining to child behavioral health that are worth checking out:

• Child Mental Health: 7 Common Misconceptions  The author reasons, “Debunking myths about child mental health is critical to getting more children the help and understanding they deserve.”  Good read.  Sometimes we have to explain things to school stakeholders in laymen’s terms.
• Similarly, San Diego County is trying to remove some of the stigmas commonly associated with mental health. 
• Growing Up Bipolar shows some of the perspectives of kids who show signs of bipolar disorder.  The author is also advocating for an alternative diagnosis since most children and adolescents don’t show classic bipolar symptoms, even though they routinely grow into them as an adult.
• For parents who are treating (or considering treating) their child’s depression with medications, check out the Parents Med Guide.  You can also download the .pdf version (288k).
• The American Psychiatric Association asks the question, “Could My Child Be Depressed?”  
• I’ve been hearing a lot about Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.  It’s really not a therapeutic technique unto itself, but a term for a group of therapies with common traits.
• Five years after Katrina, how are the children doing?  According to this paper from the National Center from Disaster Preparedness, not well.  (.pdf, 199k)  This deserves a post of it’s own. 

Although we don’t treat these disorders as school counselors, we work with the mental health professionals, parents, and of course students who come through our doors.