Friday, January 6, 2006 By Amanda Williams
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

PROJECT HOPE PROVIDES EVACUEES SERVICE

Counseling now offered to Katrina victims in Cobb, Douglas

MARIETTA - After Hurricane Katrina uprooted their lives more than four months ago, all some hurricane evacuees need is someone with a friendly ear.

That is why one local agency is offering a program, Project Hope, to provide counseling services to evacuees in Cobb and Douglas counties.

"Lots of folks out there just want somebody to talk to, somebody who is going to listen," said Amy Stevens, an outreach worker with the Cobb County Community Services Board and the clinical supervisor of Project Hope.

"We're trying to help people at their point of need," Ms. Stevens said, "With what they need to do to take care of themselves."

The Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases launched Project Hope, a crisis support program for hurricane evacuees, with Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.

The Cobb and Douglas Community Service Boards are working together as one of 11 community service boards throughout the state administering Project Hope services to local evacuees.

In addition to coping with the traumatic experience of the hurricane itself, and adjusting to life in a new place, evacuees are also under stress to complete paperwork and meet various FEMA deadlines.

"We meet so many people who are doing the right things but they’re kind of stuck," Ms. Stevens said.

One example is a 35-year-old woman Ms. Stevens is working with who has secured a job, an apartment and has enrolled her child in school here. But she told Ms. Stevens she still has trouble sleeping, has lost 20 pounds, and cannot get the horrific experience out of her head. Plus, her son is having nightmares related to the hurricane, Ms. Stevens said.

Those are they kinds of people Project Hope aims to help.

"People who are normally high-functioning people but this is not a normal situation. What we're trying to do is say 'you're doing great, you’re taking care of yourself, " Ms. Stevens said.
While the group’s first priority is to offer emotional support for the evacuees, a secondary purpose is to hook them up with other agencies in the county offering assistance to hurricane evacuees.

“We want to be viewed as a special friend, somebody that knows a little bit about what’s going on in Cobb and Douglas counties and we try to keep up on what’s going on with FEMA,” Ms. Stevens said.

Eve Willson, a program coordinator for Project Hope and an outreach worker with the Cobb Community Services Board, said outreach workers decided to stat by offering help to evacuees still living in hotels.

According to a Cobb Community Services Board news release, 58 hotels and 600 rooms in Douglas and Cobb counties are still housing hurricane evacuees. The program plans to extend the outreach to apartment complexes and other housing where evacuees are clustered.

In Cobb County, CobbWorks! operates the Project Hope phone line for Cobb and Douglas Counties. Evacuees seeking information about food, housing, employment and emotional support can speak to a counselor from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. week days by calling 770-428-2225 or 770-794-6738.

The state has also established a hotline number, 1-800-273-TALK, a 24-hour information line which is part of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Callers should identify themselves as Katrina evacuees for Project Hope services.

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