Crisis Counseling Funds Sought for Colo. Fire Victims
Aug. 12--Black Forest residents could soon get help from a team of crisis counselors overseen by one of the region's largest behavioral health providers.
State and local health care officials submitted a grant application on Thursday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency requesting 45-60 days of funding for a crisis support team resembling one that came to aid of Mountain Shadows residents after last year's Waldo Canyon fire.
The application requested $90,000 for seven full-time crisis counselors -- overseen by AspenPointe -- plus a part-time position with the state to track data, said Curt Drennan, program manager for disaster behavioral health and community outreach for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Officials sought the grant after President Barack Obama made a federal disaster declaration for the Black Forest fire burn area.
If it comes through, as expected, state officials plan to seek additional funding to extend the team's work through summer 2014. That application would be based upon work through early fall.
Meanwhile, AspenPointe isn't waiting for FEMA.
The nonprofit, behavioral health care organization, is taking applications for the crisis counselor positions in anticipation of receiving the grant, said Gerald Albrent, director of operations. It had received 51 applications by midday Friday, and the hiring process should begin this week, Albrent said.
"I need to get people with boots on the ground, and have it happen soon," Albrent said.
The team would be modeled after AspenPointe's Waldo Support Team -- which had 10 crisis counselors who worked for a year. Their mission wasn't to provide therapy, because the team had only one licensed clinician and one registered nurse, Albrent said.
Rather, the team went door-to-door through northwest Colorado Springs and talked to people about the fire's emotional toll. They connected residents with psychologists, handed out pamphlets on how to deal with stress and kept office hours at the Colorado Springs Together center.
The team had 7,960 individual and group interactions -- a category that includes meeting people while going door-to-door, or hosting presentations on dealing with the fire's emotional toll.
The group handed out literature to 24,061 people, and it met 19,693 people at meetings hosted by other organizations, such as insurance or emergency preparedness groups.
The team got an additional $50,000 grant through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to provide 5,000 "I'm Not Scared When I'm Prepared" backpacks to local schoolchildren. The backpacks included survival gear and resources to help cope with a natural disaster.
Often, the team's work consisted of doing little more than helping residents write shopping lists or catalogue their ashen belongings.
"Their ability to make these kinds of decision, which three months ago was so easy, for some people becomes a chore," Albrent said. "We don't give them the answers, but we work with them to help them reach the answers themselves."
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Copyright 2013 - The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
