Johnny, Gulf Coast

I hate Katrina. I saw a branch and wanted to beat the heck out of her. I want to kill her. Me and Preston had stuff to do and thanks to that stinking hurricane we can’t.

Excerpted from Working in The Gulf Region Post-Katrina
by Stephanie Wise, M.A., ATR-BC, LCAT

I am sure we all can identify with the rupture of normalcy this young person felt when Hurricane Katrina separated Johnny from his friends, his school, his home, his life as he had known it prior to the devastation. For most of us, identification comes from the safety of distance with the urge to help and lend support being almost primal. We all want ‘do something about it; make it better; fix the problem’.

When art therapist Stephanie worked with Johnny,  he
was a 9-year-old boy who had lost his home, his school
and his best friend, Preston.

It is the unfortunate nature of trauma that ready fixes do not lend themselves to the negative emotional and psychological impact of such suffering. We will need to take time and effort to help bring about long term healing.

As a Critical Incident Specialist (this intervention work occurs as close in time to a traumatic event as possible) and Board Certified Art Therapist, I was able to work in the Gulf Region 5-days post-Katrina. My work using art therapy was focused on children ages 4-16 who had been able to evacuate from New Orleans and, with their parents, were now looking for housing and schools. Some of the children lived in the family cars while pursuing safer ground. Some families were living with relatives in homes meant to house 4 occupants now having 12 -14. Many families found safe haven in motels and hotels. Though their circumstances were not dire compared to many others, their lives suffered immeasurable disruption and uncertainty for the future. Homes were completely lost. Families were torn apart. Schools had been completely destroyed along with the text books, records of achievement, and other sources of identity so very import to identity formation in children and young people.

I knew my work there was time limited and it was very important to set reasonable goals while working with these children. Based on my past work in the field of trauma, I determined that the most powerful intervention I could make under these restricted circumstances would be to allow the natural course of expression to flow directly from the children into the art work with out directives. Having created a ‘safe’ space for the children to come to, they were choices of pens, pencils, crayons, markers and paper. The art work they made was simple, direct and at times defended. They knew that in the art space, any expression was ok. Some children wanted to talk about what they made, others simply handed me their drawings and moved on to play cards with other children, read a book or choose a stuffed animal (donated by a kind person) to cuddle.

My brief stay in the region, only five days, will remain with me as a pivotal experience in appreciating the resiliency of people. In spite of all the loss and confusion, people were helping each other in every way imaginable. It will likely take a very long time, if ever, to return to ‘normal’. The multi-dimensional levels of trauma will no doubt need to be addressed with compassion and professionalism for years to come.