Victims of this week’s North Georgia flooding can turn to a disaster mental health Web site for the state, www.georgiadisaster.info, for assistance in dealing with the emotional toll of the tragedies...
Victims of this week’s North Georgia flooding can turn to a disaster mental health Web site for the state, www.georgiadisaster.info, for assistance in dealing with the emotional toll of the tragedies. The site is a comprehensive disaster mental health portal providing a wealth of information for the general public as well as specific constituencies such as persons with disabilities, military, educators and professional responders.
Georgiadisaster.info is sponsored by the Georgia Department of Human Resources using federal funds from the Community Health Preparedness Program, and was developed by the University of West Georgia. The site is one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the nation and addresses many of the stresses any kind of catastrophe can bring to an individual, a family or a community.
“Common setbacks result from the chaos and confusion that occur when people are affected by disaster,” said Dr. Larry Schor, associate professor of psychology at UWG. “My experience as a disaster mental health counselor is that people really want the life they had before the disaster. The challenge is to find ways to begin to move forward.”
Schor said that people can go to the site and read about topics such as recovery. The site is also available in Spanish and offers resources and information on how to cope and prepare for a disaster to the elderly, members of the military, persons with disabilities and public school systems. The response from state agencies and the public has been positive and organizations in other states have requested information on how the site was developed.
The site also links to a wide range of organizations including the American Red Cross, Centers for Disease Control and Georgia911.org, Georgia’s disaster and emergency site.
For more information, go to www.georgiadisaster.info.