PAINTSVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Volunteers with the Christian Appalachian Project were among the first on the ground helping families and community members following last year's floods in eastern Kentucky. Now, nearly one year later, they're continuing to offer resources. One of the biggest resources is mental health services.
CAP Family Life Counseling Services counselor, Dale Hamilton, says, "They've gone on with their life they've moved on, well anything that they've not dealt with in that trauma anything that they've just pushed down during that survival mode or pushed out of their mind may be in the denial stage of grief -- now, there could be triggers for that."
A year can be a short period of time when recovering from trauma from last year's floods -- these leaders encourage people, even if they feel like they're fine, to talk about what they've been through with others.
Hamilton says, "The reason they should talk to someone is often times our way of coping with such big traumas like that is by entering a stage of denial as a part of grief, or by just simply disconnecting or dissociating from those feelings...to be able to be dealt with."
He says says they've been able to help dozens work through their trauma, loss, and anxiety -- by offering a variety of services for children, young adults, and adults. Hamilton explains that care for children can be crucial, especially those who may not have developed coping mechanisms.
"As an adult I have coping skill where I could tell you my traumas, I could tell you the story of the scary thing, but a young person would then act it out, they would avoid it by their behaviors. So, this is TFCBT -- trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy is a way to kind of structure that,” says Hamilton.
He knows there's a stigma around getting care and shares they've noticed a lot of people so busy helping others that they haven't made time to help themselves. He encourages people to let their guards down about counseling.
Hamilton says, "Sure, be strong, be self-reliant, but know that there's people here to shoulder with you, to come up beside you to help you and that's what the resources here at Christian Appalachian Project are really about, about helping and being there with people."
