Environmental Trauma, Resiliency and Activism: Finding

a Personal Healing Process through Community

Engagement
Kat Dunn &
Gail Dipesa
Emotional symptoms of trauma:
* Shock, denial, or disbelief
* Anger * Irritability
* Guilt * Shame
* Feeling sad or hopeless *Confusion
* Difficulty concentrating * Mood swings
* Anxiety and fear * Self-blame
* Withdrawing from others
* Feeling disconnected or numb

Physical symptoms of trauma:

*Insomnia or nightmares * Muscle tension
*Being startled easily * Racing heartbeat
*Aches and pains * Fatigue
*Difficulty concentrating * Edginess and agitation

One way to cope or manage these symptoms is to take on responsibility in

the form of community activism, repairing or rebuilding where the trauma
has occurred. Victims of the environmental trauma become healers in its
aftermath, helping the community and in turn helping themselves to deal
with the disillusionment accompanying the traumatic event.
 Environmental Trauma and Natural Disasters yield a
common/shared traumatic experience. The survivors have the
opportunity to use their shared experience to heal the
community and in so doing to heal themselves.
While no two people’s experience of a traumatic event will be
exactly the same, the Traumatized go from Victim to Survivor to
Healer by means of engaging with their community through
Activism, Rebuilding and other Community based initiatives.

Some examples of Events where large cohorts share a

common experience of trauma…

*Hurricane Katrina * Haiti Earthquake

* Bosnia Civil War * Genocide- Rwanda, Darfur, Armenian, etc.
* 12/26 Tsunami * Daily Violence (Colombia)
* Occupation (Iraq, Palestine) * South African Apartheid
* Iraq War- Veteran Trauma * Grief/Loss from War: Parents’ Loss of Child to War
 Walsh’s Model
Walsh (1998)- places the foundations of resilience within an ecological, developmental
and relational framework. (based on research done in the U.S.)
A relational view understands the
An ecological family as a functional unit in which mediating
perspective frames family processes influence short- and long-term
functioning within the many adaptation to hardships for all members. An
contexts that a family inhabits; important caveat, however, is that
attends to cultural, ethnic, overcoming struggle is more challenging
gender, religion, and economic when families also face racism, poverty, or
status; and attends to hierarchy, war. She criticized previous traditional
power, and oppression. research for not taking into account the
family as a potential source of resilience and
A developmental for narrowing its focus in terms of individual
perspective attends to and biological hardiness.
change over time within the
shifting balance of the stages in
families’ life cycles.
 Ecological Theory (Harvey applies to Trauma)

Ecological Theory: Psychological attributes of human beings are best understood in the
ecological context of human community and that individual reactions to events are
best understood in light of the values, behaviors, skills and understandings that human
communities cultivate in their members. To apply this to trauma, it helps us to
understand individual differences in posttraumatic response and recovery.

Community empowerment model of intervention – Victims of Violence Program basis.

Somerville organization founded by Mary Harvey and Judith Herman (Harvey &
Tummala-Narra, 2007)

If there is time, Harvey gives a Case Example to illustrate the role of ecological theory
in the design and conduct of community-level interventions in the 1996 article: “An
ecological view of psychological trauma and trauma recovery”
 In what ways can we apply Walsh’s Model of Resilience and Harvey’s
application of Ecological Theory to understand how those affected in
Hurricane Katrina, The Indonesian Tsunami of 2004, or The Earthquake
in Haiti may have responded?

• Katrina? –in an article in USA TODAY (2007) A pediatrician discusses the mental
health status of children who survived hurricane Katrina. Before Katrina, regular
doctors saw about 5% of kids presenting with mental health issues, now its 50%.
• Studies on trauma and resiliency are showing that how well the adults deal with the
trauma is an indicator of how well their kids will cope with the same trauma.

• How might the public and governmental response to Katrina have

further perpetuated trauma? Reinforced Racial injustices?
Classism?

• Could people still be experiencing trauma after the storm? How

might the conditions and rescue efforts after the hurricane still
be traumatic?
 Comparing FEMA response to fires
in California vs. FEMA response t
o Katrina
(Start at 1:25)

“Well, this is just like the Superdome, except no rape or piles of

human waste. Its still not quite like home even though we've got
wifi, some cookies and toothpaste. Yea, its just like the
Superdome, Except everyone's white and middle class. We've got
some yogurt, people chanting, oh there's lots of gatorade and
toilet paper to wipe our ass. This is just like the super do-oh-
ome…”
 Some Numbers on Katrina….
• Zero= Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance
from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home
Community Development Block Grant – compared to 116,708 homeowners.

• Zero=Number of hospitals in New Orleans providing in-patient mental health

care as of September 2009 despite post-Katrina increases in suicides and
mental health problems.

• 1=  Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in murders per capita for 2008.

• 1=  Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in percentage of vacant residences.

• 2=  Number of Katrina cottages completed in Louisiana as of beginning of 2009

hurricane season under $74 million dollar federal program.
 The Katrina numbers…
33=  Percent of 134,000 FEMA trailers in which Katrina and Rita storm
survivors were housed after the storms which are estimated by federal
government to have had formaldehyde problems.

35=  Percent of child care facilities re-opened in New Orleans since Hurricane
Katrina.

35=  Percent increase of demand in 2009 at emergency food programs in New

Orleans and surrounding parishes, “an increase pinned on the swelling ranks
of under-employed and rising food, housing, and fuel costs.”

50=  Ranking of Louisiana among states for overall healthcare.

52=  Percent increase in rents in New Orleans since Katrina.

52= Percent of federal rebuilding money allocated to New Orleans that has
actually been received.
 Trauma…after the Trauma:
Women’s experience of Rape and Vulnerability in the
Aftermath of the Earthquake in Haiti

Women in Haiti experienced the MADRE Video

majority of the trauma of the
Earthquake, not primarily because
of the loss of home or
environmental devastation, but
because the chaotic conditions in
the wake of the earthquake has
led to an increase in rape which
has largely gone unaddressed in
the mainstream media, and there
is a lack of infrastructure/law
enforcement to create security in
the refugee camps. The activist
response by Haitian Women’s
Groups illustrates one mechanism
for coping with this trauma.
 KOFAVIV (Haiti), the Commission of Women Victim-to-Victim is a long-standing
women’s rights group geared toward drawing attention to sexual violence and ending
it. Its members and activists are made up of survivors of rape.
As KOFAVIV’s partner organization MADRE notes, members of the group have
“witnessed the skyrocketing incidence of rape in the camps and the lack of a
coordinated or effective response to these persistent threats.”
Women building a New Haiti
“Women are disproportionately represented among the poor in Haiti. When massive disasters hit, resources are at a
minimum to begin with. Women just aren’t prioritized in aid distribution when you have gender-neutral aid
distribution…By not listening to the expertise and valuing the voices of women after a disaster in the process of
reconstruction, you’re rebuilding a country on a very weak foundation and that’s not something Haiti  - or any
country – should do. You’re ignoring the voice of women who could contribute so much.” (Diane Duarte, MADRE).

This is what makes the response from KOFAVIV, MADRE and advocates like Human Rights
attorney Lisa Davis who works with them, so inspirational, however. Duarte tells RH Reality
Check the story of how Lisa traveled down to Haiti with a financial contribution to KOFAVIV, from
MADRE.

CONCRETE RESULTS FOLLOW: Within just a couple of days, women of KOFAVIV turned that
money into basic supplies for their fellow women in the camps; pots and pans, hygiene kits were
almost immediately distributed. The efficiency was astounding and it makes a concrete
difference in the lives of women and girls, today.
Cross-cultural comparisons to traumatic natural disasters: Haiti vs.
New Orleans
How might the cohesiveness of family structure differ among poor Haitians than among
poor black New Orleanians? What about expectations of government?

How might the different cultural backgrounds of black African-American New Orleanians
and poor Haitians impact individual’s responses to a traumatic ‘natural disaster’
experience?

How might the ability to move to another state (from New Orleans to elsewhere in the
USA) vs. Haitians who largely don’t have to ability to (easily) relocate to another country
help or hinder recovery from the traumatic event?
Chicago Health Outreach
Displaced Bosnians have psychological wounds resulting from experiences of
torture, massacre, ethnic cleansing, internment, rate, daily mortar and sniper fire,
injury, deprivation and loss of family and friends.

Through the creative art making process, a visual dialogue emerges to allow
refugees to unravel fragments of their stories.

Through a creative process these survivors were able to move forward with their
lives and strengthening their resiliency.
 
Men’s drawing, writing & discussion group
Feedback from a male Bosnian client in the
program:
“Its not comfortable meeting someone for
the first time. It’s not easy to talk about
things that happened. When you use a pen
and start drawing, you don’t think about how
to talk…thought the artwork it helped to calm
me down because I got throughout the
horrible things and my nerves were not so
good. It worked for me. The writing helped
me to concentrate…I found myself in the
writing. I didn’t think about anything else. I
go to my room and write…when I am finished
I feel different. I feel satisfied. After our
session I would put it on my paper my way…
no one in (rural) Bosnia wrote a book. I think
it is important for people to know what
happened so it does not happen again.”
Story Panel quilt making

Embroidery, needlepoint, crochet, knitting, needle lace and quilting are some of the
examples of the therapeutic crafting done within this treatment.
The story quilt project provided the women with the means to honor memories of
loves ones, a lost country, and culture so they were not forgotten.

Story Panels are a venue for cultures to pass stories of their history to future
generations. The Story quilt was a visual record of the survivors’ lives.
One woman embroidered a large banner honoring Kosorac, her village of 25,000
people that had been destroyed during the war. This memorial depicting the Bosnian
flag gave the client a safe way to talk about the destruction of her village.
These memorials serve as a concrete symbol through which previously inaccessible
feeling about the loss of these loved ones can be expressed and worked through.
Why Art?
Art provides a focus for self-expression and discussion. The artwork serves as a
voice for what cannot be said in words.

Visual images are easier for the mind to retain than language. When traumatic
events are repressed in a person’s memory, good memories are also often
repressed. Through art, the art therapist can assist the client to uncover
memories and skills of life before the trauma.

The sensory memory of terror-feeling totally unsafe and powerless is replaced

with the sensory experience of regaining power over it as well as feeling safe
once again as the experience is now contained and
outside himself. He can experience putting distance
between himself and the experience and
thereby feeling safer.
For some trauma survivors the therapeutic benefit of drawing includes:
 It is a psychomotor activity that helps to trigger the sensory memories of the traumatic
experience when it is trauma focused.

It provides a safe vehicle to communicate what children, even adults, often have few words to
describe.

It engages the child/adult in active involvement in their own healing. It takes them from a passive
to an active, directed, controlled externalization of that trauma experience.

It provides a symbolic representation of the trauma experience in a format that makes us a
witness to the experience so we can now see what the child sees as he looks at himself and the
world around him.

It provides a visual focus on details that encourage the client via trauma-specific questions, to tell
his story, to give it a language so it can be reordered in a way that is manageable.

It also provides for the diminishing of reactivity (anxiety) to trauma memories through repeated
visual re-exposure in a medium that is perceived and felt by the client to be safe.

It becomes a concrete representation the child can manipulate anyway needed to now feel power
over it.
The world Trade Center
Children’s Mural Project

While the project was conceived

in a public school the project to
gave children all over the city an
opportunity to be pro-active,
which a lot of times alleviates
trauma. Due to the anti-Arab
sentiment emerging after
9/11The project was designed
to remind kids how we are a
community that needs to stick
together. The art therapist who
implemented the project chose
self portraits because of how
important it was to celebrate
cultural diversity in New York,
while validating children's sense
of self.
What could Children do?
In the beginning there were no venues for children to become involved in
community action and the events of September 11th 2001 had created almost
insurmountable isolation and helplessness.
When offered the opportunity to result NYC with other children in a large mural,
children became excited. They were able to become actively involved choosing to
gain mastery rather than succumb to victimization.

Building the Mural

The face is an image all children have mastered early on and it authentically
represents cultural attributes. The completed portraits were a validation of the
self and a testament of each individual child’s connectedness to the community.

“All creation is really a recreation of a once loved and one whole, but not lost and
ruined object, a ruined interval world and self. It is when the world within is
destroyed, when it is dead and loveless, when our loved ones are in fragments, and
we ourselves in deep despair it is then that we must recreate our world anew,
reassemble the pieces, infuse life into dead fragments, recreate life.”
Psychoanalyst Hanna Segal, 1992

 
American Art Therapy Association, Inc. For professionals using art activities with
children, the experience of interacting with children who have experienced traumatic
events may be a new one for you. The following guidelines may also be helpful in
beginning your use of creative expression…

1) First, encourage children to express whatever they would like to express in their
art. Some children also like to express themselves in other ways, such as in
songs, stories, play, drama, or writing. Following a trauma it is important for
children to be given choices. Because culture influences self-expression, some
children may feel more comfortable with one way of expressing over another. 
2) Keep in mind that a child’s age, ability, personality, interest, and skill influence
their creations. The focus should be on the experience and process rather than
the product. 
3) Provide a safe and structured environment for creative expression to take place.
Be empathetic, listen, encourage storytelling about art produced, and accept
whatever is communicated about art created. Refrain from trying to interpret
art and simply accept and encourage participation and self-expression. Engaging
in a dialogue by simply asking a child to describe the elements in a picture can
be helpful and supportive. 
 …Continued

4) Use art activities to promote self-reliance and problem solving in children. Provide
opportunities for experimentation with art materials, learning new art skills, and
making decisions about what to draw, paint, or make during an art session. 

5) Be aware that children may use art expression in a variety of ways after
experiencing a traumatic event. Some children will repeat images of the event in their
drawings, paintings, or play activities; others may resist memories of the actual event,
preferring to use art activities to soothe and reduce stress. If trauma stories are
expressed, remain calm, listen, and respond without judgment or interpretation. It is
particularly important for you to normalize any feelings expressed by letting children
know that what they are experiencing is being experienced by many other children,
too. 6) Significant and personal feelings may be shared in the art making. It is
important that children feel calm and in control at the end of an activity.
 How does this create resiliency?
The most critical factors for resilient children are friends, neighbors, and
teachers who offer emotional support, reward competence, and promote
self- esteem. Intervention intending to shift the balance from vulnerability to
resilience either by decreasing exposure to risk factors and stressful life
events or by increasing the number of available protective factors such as
competencies and sources of support in the life’s of vulnerable children.

The children’s mural project demonstrates the various facets of coping, art as
therapy, social support, resilience and hardiness. Emotional support was a
central feature of this project because children and mentors came together in
the form of a community to provide each other with nurturance.
Through the group process of creating the mural, the children and mentors
completed a task that combined images of hope, optimism and love with
those of fear, stress and anxiety. It was a venue where trust and connection
to others was intensified.