Will Katrina survivors need brigades of grief counsellors?
What does it feel like to lose your home, job, community and city, all in one hit? What if the same disaster that swept those things away also took the lives of family members or friends, perhaps as you looked on helplessly? What if you are living in emergency accommodation with thousands of other refugees and have no idea when or how you will have anything like a normal life again? These are the questions that strain the imagination and tug at the heart as our television screens nightly confront us with the refugees and survivors of hurricane Katrina. Above all, what can be done to comfort these people—particularly those who, like a black family who spent days shut in their marooned house with their dead mother, have suffered the worst experiences? While most of us ponder these questions with awe, others already have their answers and are marshalling psychological support for the victims. Trauma experts, death educators and grief counsellors are responding in force to a great tide of
