| After Disaster: What Teens Can Do | | | | |
| | | | • While it may feel better to pretend |
| 04th April 2007 | | | | the event did not happen, in the long run it |
| | | | is best to be honest about your feelings and |
| Author: Arthur Buchanan | | | | to allow yourself to acknowledge the sense of |
| | | | loss and uncertainty. |
| Note: Information based on brochure developed | | | | |
| by Project Heartland -- A Project of the | | | | • It is important to realize that, |
| Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and | | | | while things may seem off balance for a |
| Substance Abuse Services in response to the | | | | while, your life will return to normal. |
| 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building | | | | |
| in Oklahoma City. Project Heartland was | | | | • It is important to talk with someone |
| developed with funds from the Federal | | | | about your sorrow, anger, and other emotions, |
| Emergency Management Agency in consultation | | | | even though it may be difficult to get |
| with the | | | | started. |
| | | | |
| Federal Center for Mental Health Services. | | | | • You may feel most comfortable talking |
| | | | about your feelings with a teacher, |
| • Whether or not you were directly | | | | counselor, or church leader. The important |
| affected by a disaster or violent event, it | | | | thing is that you have someone you trust to |
| is normal to feel anxious about your own | | | | confide in about your thoughts and feelings. |
| safety, to picture the event in your own | | | | |
| mind, and to wonder how you would react in an | | | | • It is common to want to strike back |
| emergency. | | | | at people who have caused great pain. This |
| | | | desire comes from our outrage for the |
| • People react in different ways to | | | | innocent victims. We must understand, though, |
| trauma. Some become irritable or depressed, | | | | that it is futile to respond with more |
| others lose sleep or have nightmares, others | | | | violence. Nothing good is accomplished by |
| deny their feelings or simply "blank out" the | | | | hateful language or actions. |
| troubling event. | | | | |