The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is awarding $471,000 dollars to Georgia's Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases.
The funds will go toward extending a crisis counseling project for survivors of the tornado that devastated Sumter and Taylor counties March first.
Since the storm, hundreds of people have sought help overcoming psychological stress disorders. Many report suffering from feelings of despondency and helplessness.
Jeannette David, a mental health planner from the Department of Human Resources explains how outreach coordinators aid residents, providing them, "with information on how to cope, how to deal with the that stresses they're experiencing; and to let them know that, probably, any upset that they have or any stresses that they might be feeling is – normal, because they're reacting to an abnormal situation...”
The funding will continue until April, 2008.
More information is available on the survivor helpline at 1-800-342-7843.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Sumter, Taylor Co. tornado survivors getting more help
