More reading materials.

My aforementioned reading has been adding up. I'm currently browsing 13 books that I've checked out of the library. Most of them have been pretty light, until now. Yesterday I picked up the newest four and they are far from speed reads. 

Last night I polished off The scared child : helping kids overcome traumatic events; by Barbara Brooks and Paula M. Siegel. There was a lot of information in this book and some of the examples were quite overwhelming. But I gained an important piece of information - terminology for my biggest fear going into this trip - trauma by proxy. I also learned four steps to debrief a traumatized individual. This isn't counseling but listening and guiding questions to help children (or teenagers) process overwhelming events like natural disasters or trauma experienced by peers (which can be as traumatizing as experiencing it oneself for some individuals). 

Debriefing Goals

• Assists the individual in “venting”
• Helps the individual develop a more complete understanding of what happened
• Normalizes the individuals responses
• Teaches the individual appropriate coping skills
• Assists the individual in adjusting to posttrauma life

And the steps I mentioned;
Debriefing has four steps:

1. Preparing yourself
2. Having the individual tell the story
3. Sharing the individual’s reactions
4. Survival and recovery

Obviously I still have a lot to learn, I want to be the best listener and helper I can for the New Orleanians but also help to prepare and comfort the teenagers that I am going with. 

Tonight I'm taking a break from the PTSD learning to become more familiar with the victims of Katrina and Rita. I've just begun Breach of faith : Hurricane Katrina and the near death of a great American city; by Jed Horne. So far so good. I'm especially thankful for the detailed maps at the beginning. There is one outlining all of the neighborhoods of New Orleans followed by a more topographical map that depicts the areas that were flooded and how much water they were under following the storm.

The last two books that I've just taken on, and hope to get to this weekend, are 

1. After the storm; by Kendall Johnson. 

and 

2. The God of intimacy and action : reconnecting ancient spiritual practices, evangelism, and justice; by Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling. 

I'm saving the Campolo/Darling book for last as I'm actually dreading it. I don't know why, maybe high school social studies class, but I have this huge chip on my shoulder when it comes to missionaries and missionary trips. I've never actually been on one, nor do I personally know someone that has. But I have this idea that missionaries are pushy folks trying to convert the masses to Christianity. I am most definitely not that type. But this New Orleans trip is considered a missionary type trip, right? I think it is anyway and the Campolo/Darling book was suggested by the group organizers. At the very least I'll leaf through it. 

But for tonight Jed Horne is my man and I'm leaving you with my current thoughts - and the State flag of Louisiana.

It is a parent pelican with three babies. My understanding is that the parent represents the government taking care of it's babies, the citizens of Louisiana. Saying the during times of trouble or need the state's inhabitants will be nurtured. Leading me to my concern, isn't it worse to not get something if you've been taught your entire life to expect exactly that something?