On Friday, I posted a first hand account of a woman who volunteered her services as a counselor for survivors of Katrina. As noted by a Samantha Joy in the comments and by J Flenn, who emailed me last night, authorship of this piece was widely misattributed to Anne Gevarsi. The true author is Shari Julian. Like Smantha, J Flenn contacted Anne Gevarsi and received the following statement, which Samantha also received and posted in the comments today:
Since Shari Julian was on Dateline Friday, I feel that I can tell you that she is my friend who donated her time working with refugees. I am NOT a psychologist, and I don’t want her ideas misrepresented as mine; PLEASE pass this on. I know that Shari will be delighted with your response to her. I do not want any of the Princes of Spin to use this mix-up against her or against me. I agreed to pass on her reflections since I have an extensive email list. Somehow, my name became associated as the psychologist. I am an English professor, so please contact Dr. Julian at the addresses in the cc line.
J Flenn also heard directly from Shari Julian, who wrote that she is:
...a Licensed Professional Counselor with a bunch of post-doctorates not a psychologist. Counseling is actually a better preparation than psychology for this work since it works with populations without pre-existing psychopathology but rather situational abreactions. I have a lot of experience with victims of mass trauma and with crime. I am an assistant professor in the department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at UTA. ...
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I’ve been following this ordeal at least in part as a frontline community services counselor.
Three questions regarding those with pre-existing psychopathologies when disaster strikes:
Will the experience in New Orleans prompt Emergency Response Planning and Implementation to identify the the many issues relating to drug addiction that must be addressed in any disaster emergency?
Who will assume responsibility for public oversight of what is happening with disaster victims who have drug addictions? There’s more to this story than the “thugs.” How is the disaster relief dealing with drug addiction issues now? Why isn’t anyone talking about it or reporting on it?
Will the US be taking a look at disaster management requirements for gunshops and drug and alcohol supplies? Do owners and public services have a responsibility to develop a different response than what we witnessed?: caches of weapons and ammunition left unattended and openly accessible and entire stocks of drugs and alcohol ready for the taking. A deadly cocktail that gets mixed long before the addicts imbibe during a disaster.