Global Trauma: Cedar Rapids


 

Current Status:

  • In Development
  • July 2008: initial outreach visit assessing need & possible roll of the Center
  • Strong interest expressed in on-site Center training by leading mental health agencies
  • Currently seeking funding & support for a local training program

The June 2008 Flood is the worst natural disaster in the history of the state, affecting almost 40,000 Iowans in over 340 communities. 83 of 99 Iowa counties are considered disaster areas. 9000 homes have been damaged and more than 3000 homes destroyed beyond repair. Cedar Rapids was especially hard hit with close to 2000 K-12 students affected, the homes of 5000 families flooded, and an estimated $1.3 billion in flood damages.

Center Founder and Director James S. Gordon, Center Director of Finance and Administration Dan Sterenchuk, who is a native of Cedar Rapids visited Iowa in mid-July to ascertain how the Center might best serve the need for trauma relief in the region. Mind-Body Medicine faculty member and Cedar Rapids health professional Judith Pedersen-Benn and local businessman Paul Novreske hosted the visit. The team found huge need and strong local interest on the part of leading health and mental health agencies in bringing Mind-Body Medicine professional training to Cedar Rapids, just as the Center has to New Orleans.

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Center has trained health and mental health professionals in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. These professionals described the trainings as “caring for the caregivers”, helping them learn how to increase their own resiliency through reducing stress, minimizing compassion fatigue, preventing burnout, and improving their optimism about the recovery process, even as the Center equips them to provide far more effective programs to the communities they serve. The Center expanded the capacity of these professionals by teaching them to use the trauma model with small groups of 8-12 clients at once in addition to one-on-one intervention.

“Iowans are strong, courageous, can-do people. They are also exquisitely sensitive to the psychological trauma that is beginning to overwhelm so many in their community. The health, mental health, educational and other community leaders we met immediately understood what we have to offer, and are interested in making our model an important part of their emotional healing.”

Dr. James S. Gordon, July 2008

Click here to read more about the New Orleans Hope program.

Click to read more about the Center’s Global Trauma Relief programs in Kosovo, Gaza and Israel, and the population-wide healing model.

For more information about this program, or if you would like to help, please contact Dan Sterenchuk, Director of Finance & Administration, at dsterenchuk@cmbm.org.