Article archive / December 1, 2009
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 4. Source pages: 1, 4.
New Orleans clinical psychologist, Kathryn Nathan, PhD, had no idea that her efforts to find support for trauma burdened mental health professionals in post- Katrina New Orleans would lead to a non- governmentally funded longitudinal study of adult onset trauma among clinicians. Nor did she know it would continue into an active educational program aiding clinicians as they coped with the psychological impacts from Katrina on their patients and on themselves. As Dr. Nathan sees it, she simply put one foot in front of the other, searching for people who might help and for funding to support the effort. The APA meeting in New Orleans in 2006 brought her some unexpected catalysts.
The story of trauma begins before the storm, with the evacuation. In frantic efforts to move people out of harm’s way, many flew into action as Hurricane Katrina approached. Predictions said the storm would slam Southeast Louisiana, heading toward New Orleans, with Category 3 winds and dangerous tidal surges. People had to leave. Academic personnel moved masses of students out of the city’s universities and colleges. Hospital workers evacuated seriously ill patients and had to reconcile themselves to the horror of leaving behind those too ill to move. Mental health professionals evacuated, concerned for themselves, their families and their patients. The evacuation, though frantic, successfully relocated 90% of Southeast Louisiana people to other parts of the country.
Most people expected to return home in a few days and then the unthinkable happened. Levees failed leaving 80% of the city under as much as 15 feet of water. Everyone watched the catastrophe and worried about their homes, their work places, their schools. After weeks and months, they returned to find their city in shambles.
Upon her return, Dr. Nathan began reaching out to other therapists, hoping to create a community of mental health professionals who could support each other in re-establishing their lives in New Orleans, to aid in their recovery from the trauma while they helped their students, clients and patients to do likewise. Personal and professional life was hard, exhausting for all.
Dr. Nathan searched for people for guidance in addressing the emotional and intellectual needs of local therapists mired in Katrina. In 2006, at the APA meeting in New Orleans, Dr. Nathan became acquainted with Neil Altman, PhD, a psychologist/psychoanalyst from New York who works with inner city children in a program funded by the FAR Fund. He facilitated a connection with Shirlee Taylor, PhD, a psychologist and executive director of the FAR Fund. In 2007, under the auspices of The New Orleans-Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center, Dr. Nathan submitted a proposal for the FAR Fund Project (FFP) and earned a 5-year grant. In 2008, FFP engaged Ghislaine Boulanger, PhD, a psychologist/psychoanalyst who studies and treats survivors of catastrophe.
Dr. Boulanger conducted extensive interviews with New Orleans clinicians which provided the information for two free lectures she offered to therapists: “I Don’t Want This Knowledge: Understanding the Effects of Hurricane Katrina on Therapists and Therapy in New Orleans,” and “Let’s Talk About It: Survivor Therapists Working with Survivors of Hurricane Katrina.”
Dr. Kathryn Nathan, leader of FFP, reading to nephew and niece, in her New Orleans office.
The FFP continues. It continues because the therapeutic community still deals with the aftermath of Katrina. FFP is currently conducting a reading/discussion group for therapists based on Dr. Boulanger’s book, “Wounded by Reality: Understanding and Treating Adult Onset Trauma.” The numbers of New Orleans clinicians wanting to enroll was so great; there is a waiting list for a repeat of the series in the spring of 2010.
Dr. Nathan attributes the FAR Fund Project’s success to all the professionals who combined their minds and energies to create and implement the programs of the FFP. She shies away from taking credit for the leadership, always an essential ingredient of any mission, which resulted in this exemplary community mental health project.
Learn more about The FAR Fund Project by going to www.farfundprojectnola.com Or read more at Dr. Boulanger’s website, www.ghislaineboulanger.com and the FAR Fund’s website, www.farfund.org.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.