My Health, My Choice, My Life
From Frontier Health
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tennessee Recovery Project Extended 3 Months
To Provide Assistance to Those Affected by Tornadoes
The northeast arm of the Tennessee Recovery Project received additional federal funding for another three months of free crisis and referral services for those affected by the tornado disasters in Greene and Washington, Tenn., counties, ending August 31. Overall, the team has helped 23,499 people, provided 867 crisis counseling sessions and 2,179 received group counseling or public education.
“We are so grateful to assist so many people who were seriously impacted by these storms. We’ve witnessed first-hand the devastation. The people we meet are so resilient but still have such great needs, especially in Greene County where we’ve seen six times greater need,” said Melissa D. Willett, project coordinator.
The initiative was created to provide emotional support to help manage the stress and difficulties faced following the disaster. Tennessee Recovery provides group counseling sessions and group educational activities about disasters, emergency preparedness, and long-term recovery after a disaster. They have activities for children affected by the disaster and will continue meeting with individuals and families to ensure they are exercising adequate coping skills.
The Project also partners with community groups who provide services and offers first responders and long-term recovery groups, free trainings, including Psychological Skills for Recovery.
The Tennessee Recovery team members are easily identified by their Tennessee Recovery car magnets, T-shirts, and name badges and will be primarily in Greene Washington counties. The federally funded service is contracted through the State of Tennessee.
The group began going door to door in mid June 2011. The team’s free disaster related services include coping advice for adults and children, information on normal reactions to experiencing disaster, disaster resource connections including clean-up information, short-term supportive counseling and long-term counseling referrals.
Tennessee Recovery’s mission is to assist individuals and communities in recovering from the challenging effects of natural disasters through the provision of community-based outreach and educational services. Families, first responders, and anyone else affected can call the Tennessee Project Recovery Hotline for the Northeast Region. For more information, call Melissa at (423) 306-0328.
