Flood Victims Likely to Have Long-term Mental Health Needs

In the coming months, state mental health officials expect an increase in victims seeking services related to last month’s flooding.

Up to this point, they say flood victims have been too busy meeting basic needs in the immediate aftermath to pay attention to their mental health.

Debra Dillon with the Southeast Mental Health Center says that as the months go on, people will begin to feel the effects of what they’ve been through.

“They’re still having anxiety, depression, flashbacks to some of the things they’ve been through, children having nightmares about the situations, and that’s the time that they’ll start calling and wanting to come in and get into counseling and get some help in dealing with some of that.”

The state recently received a short-term grant for $380,000 to provide sixty days of educational programs; however, officials plan to apply for a long-term grant from the federal government to continue crisis counseling services throughout the year.

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FEMA’s $380,000 grant was awarded to the Tennessee Recovery Project, a service whose workers provide counseling to survivors and referrals to mental health professionals, but do not diagnose or keep case files themselves. The project has established a referral hotline: 1-800-809-9957.

The state department of mental health has also provided tip sheets for those coping with disaster. Download them here.