Page 137 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

106 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

There were days that were infuriating and there were days when the
unmet needs table appeared to be the most effective tool to navigate disaster
recovery. Without careful reflection, this tool can mirror or reinforce the
prejudices, assumptions, and injustices of our society where the most
vulnerable people are told they are not eligible for assistance. However,
if used in a way that evolves with understanding of the long-term impact
of disasters on individuals and how predisaster vulnerabilities lead to
disaster-caused effects, unmet needs tables can be a dynamic tool to sup-
port disaster recovery in a community. When unmet needs tables are used
effectively, they support the work of mental health and spiritual caregivers
who then can work with people’s emotional recovery because their basic
needs—housing, food, medical bills—are being met.
The central question in distribution of unmet needs table aid, and disas-
ter assistance in general, revolves around whether the individual’s need is
disaster caused or a preexisting condition. Imagine the following scene: In
the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a woman stands on a rooftop of a house her
family has owned for more than 90 years. She is African American and has
lived her entire life in an area of the United States that has been neglected
and poor for generations. Many of us were inundated with such images
through the media after Hurricane Katrina. While much attention and
discourse has been paid to the inequities of who was left or could not leave
New Orleans, what many people do not consider are the questions often
asked in the delivery of aid after such an event. Questions like: Is her situ-
ation disaster related or due to predisaster, systemic conditions? What is
recovery for her? In some cases, a person who has experienced predisaster
poverty or even a mental health diagnosis may find that developing a recov-
ery plan will take years. The disaster survivor may find that the community
expresses pity or sorrow as doors close and the survivor is told that she is
not eligible for aid because her problem is systemic, preexisting the disas-
ter, or she does not have a viable way of reaching recovery. Disaster recov-
ery financial assistance is distributed to help a disaster-impacted person
achieve a “new normal” that is not necessarily a return to or improvement
of life as it was before the disaster. The subjective process of determining
what is a disaster-related need, so that financial assistance can be given in
support of a person’s long-term recovery, is the center point of unmet needs
tables and can be colored by the views of people sitting at the table.
This chapter focuses on the role of faith communities and mental health
professionals in the development of financial aid assistance in response to
the 2001 World Trade Center attack. With that in mind, why start this
chapter with an image from Hurricane Katrina? I do so because media