New Orleans dkos support group - repost1

After yesterday's terrific diary by jorndorff http://www.dailykos.com/....
I realized from your posts, that there are alot of us in the New Orleans area who would probably benefit from getting some support.

I know that many of you know that I'm in the mental health field.  I'd like to provide support if I could so I'm proposing a FREE weekly support group for kossacks in the area.  Who knows what will happen?  It really doesn't matter but it would be good to get together.  Please email me if you're interested in doing this.  

My intention is not to be the therapist, although I can probably be of assistance in some ways, but rather to provide a vehicle where we can just talk. I'm going to re-post this diary everyday for a week hoping that New Orleans area kossacks will get a chance to read it.

I'll look forward to hearing from you

•  Please keep us informed.

  About our friends in New Orleans.  I love your town and am depressed here in New York about how awful the situation is there.  Please let all of us know if there is anything we can do.

  Thanks for this diary.  Recommended.

  by Nightprowlkitty on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 04:25:01 PM PDT

•  Bad link?

  The link to jorndorffs diary didn't work This one might be better ?

  Oh, and recommended.

  by Catte Nappe on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 04:39:35 PM PDT

  •  Another suggestion

    Not everyone is going to click through to jorndorff's diary. Each time you re-post you might include a snippet (or whole chunk) from some of the comments. Make people more aware that all is not happy rebuilding and recovery.

    § Nat'l Guard NEEDED (12+ / 0-)
    I'm in New Orleans and the crime situation has gotten completely out of hand. From petty crime to mass street slayings. Both in New Orleans and in the 'Burbs.
    It was COMPLETELY depressing when Mitch Landrieu was defeated in the mayoral race simply because the National GOP got involved to prop up Ray Nagin at all costs - if it resulted in the death of New Orleans, so be it.  Don't let anyone tell you it was the black vote, because it wasn't - it was the white vote.
    Now, Consider this:
    Last week alone - there was a drive-by slaying of 5 kids out on a street corner in Central City. Real rootin-tootin Al Capone mafia style.  Central City is a neighborhood right north of Saint Charles Avenue that used to be an orthodox jew neighborhood back in the day.  In the middle of last century it became a low-income black neighborhood, but in the last few years it saw a huge facelift and has been gentrified slowly.
    Last month - in my neighborhood a cop was shot right in the middle of the afternoon along our main boulevard after a routine traffic stop went wrong.
    Last week - there were TWO, not one, TWO hostage standoff/cop killing situations where the swat teams were involved.  There was another one that happened in April right in my neighborhood.
    And then with petty crimes:  Homeowners trying to rebuild in Gentilly/Lakeview - where there still isn't complete restoration of services - are basically out by themselves like they were pioneers in the Wild West.  The police SAY they are patrolling, but homeowners are in this anxious, panic-mode of having to rebuild in a race against time with "the trucks."
    "the trucks" are the boogie man. You can't live 100% in your home you are trying to rebuild, so you sleep in Metairie or "on the sliver along the River", but you work during the day at your "home."  You get building materials or appliances delivered one day and if you turn your back for just one second.."the trucks" come and there goes your stash.  
    This city is FULL of contractors of every stripe.  And believe you me, there are a share of snakes among them.  They steal to rebuild homes, do a shoddy job at that and then leave homeowner's in a lurch.  One of my friends around the block - who is European-born - wouldn't listen to my advice to WAIT and try to find the best contractor they could.  Immediately after the storm they paid for a brand new roof.  That brand new roof ended up leaking more than their damaged roof from Katrina.
    Next door, a lovely historic house, that had been gutted for renovation (left empty for a long time I might add) - fell completely.  It looked like a bomb had been set off in the middle of it.  It had beautiful brackets, doors, clawfoot tubs and historical details.  My husband and I long gave up on chasing away the pilferers.  The looters are now down to taking up the floor boards or stealing the old nails.  It's like a slow carnage of an animal in the serengueti.
    It's more than depressing walking into Home Depot or Lowe's and staring at a HUGE sign by the installation desk announcing it will take 6-7 weeks for them to even come out and give you an estimate.  You think to yourself: why am I waiting in this line again?
    My friend called BellSouth about getting her phone service re-installed.  She got an installation date of July 7, 2007.  All she could do was laugh.
    But back to "the trucks" - there have been people who have had to replace building materials 3 and 4 times.  These are determined people who love New Orleans no matter what the situation and they are talking about re-grouping neighborhood militias.
    Honestly, we are down to Neighborhood Militias as a solution.  Um - I think the National Guard is a whole lot better option.
    One of my customers, her husband is a captain with the NOFD.  The NOFD, or at least his unit, has been in charge of search and recovery work for the past months.  Day in, day out, recovering bodies.  They also haven't had their equipment replaced to pre-katrina levels.  There was a GINORMOUS fire in May that went off in the wharves by the River - a fire so large that you could see the billowing smoke in Mandeville!  NOFD was incapable of handing it alone.  If it weren't for the coast guard, etc. lending a hand  New Orleans would have burned to the ground.  My customer told me that her husband and a sizable portion of his group are all being treated for PTSD.
    The work is overwhelming, the mayor won't pay them their salaries, and you can't even find little normal things like a god damned cleaners open anymore.
    And I can't harp on Ray Nagin enough - he is such a turd!
    I kind of quit reading the newspapers because I just couldn't take it anymore.  First - it was the announcement that FEMA would be giving 165 million towards a renovated City Hall complex.  I guess that is what you get when Bush's pick gets "re-elected."  Meanwhile people who are still paying mortgages and didn't have adequate insurance, can't even get a $60,000 SBA loan.  And not to mention the completely PATHETIC mayoral inaugural AT THE SAME TIME of the london avenue canal memorial services where even Jindal and Vitter had representatives.  I took one look at Mrs. Nagin's frilly hat get up and the picture of her and Ray riding on a horsedrawn carriage without a care in the world, with the matching photo on the opposite column of a solemn ceremony to honor the dead and threw my newspaper away.

    And many in need of support are far from New Orleans itself

    · This is me. (28+ / 0-)
    The timing on this story was incredible. For the last week or so I have wondered if I'm developing low blood sugar or something. I can't concentrate. Can't sleep at night or stay awake during the day. Don't remember to eat or get groceries. I don't really care about anything; I can't get exercised or angry over the war or the rebuilding effort.
    Since I'm not sad, but numb, it did not occur to me until yesterday that this was what depression must be. This story in the Times helped clarify it.
    I'm from New Orleans and now living on the other side of the country. Haven't been able to find a job; COBRA got cut off because the mail wasn't forwarded on time; my savings are going down fast. Everyone I know at home is under incredible strain and the start of the h-season made it worse.
    I have worked since I was 16 with no breaks in my work history. I have worked all my adult life and am getting frightened that I've fallen out of the workplace for good. Did not take any money from FEMA, but I'm too old to work for minimum wage and was foolish to think that I could find a decent job within a few months.
    This is not a pity party post (I hope), but more of a sounding-out on my part. The last few months have been busy with big emotions (up and down), getting ready to move, moving, getting set up in a new place, figuring out a new city.
    And now it feels like this is my first chance in almost a year to sit down and take a rest, and it's all hitting at once. All I want to do is to be working again and feeling at home, making new friends and plans for the rest of my life, but  the days and nights are pretty empty and there's not much to do but think about how things used to be.
    I always thought depression was an immense sadness, not a void, but this is what this is: a void. So: this is depression, eh?

    by Catte Nappe on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 04:48:31 PM PDT

    •  And I responded to that second post

      That perhaps we could help this person network a job.

      There must be a number of people out of NO, that need a hand to this day. Could we be a part of that?

      What just slays me is that MoveOn put together that wonderful page for individuals to offer to take in families, and tons of people responded. However, the government persisted in herding people up, and sending them out of state in groups, to places like military facilities. And church camps --> can't you just see someone's finger in that pie? "Oh our CHURCH needs the money, we have a camp in the country...."

      At any rate, people that could have had a support group of individuals ready to help them were denied it.

      Needless suffering.

      by AllisonInSeattle on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 06:53:06 PM PDT

•  This is a great idea...

  by Elise on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 04:49:21 PM PDT

•  I read a New Orleans diary recently

  (dunno which one).

  Talked about a gal who was just overwhelmed, still, which seems normal to me.

  What I can offer -- to be a phone pal. I've been through trauma, and you just need to talk. In my experience, it's hard to have enough friends to listen as much as you want to talk. At the same time, some people don't want to listen to the negatives, they don't want to hear from you when you're going through the rite of passage involved in trauma.

  I can listen -- been there, done that, not going to freak out.

  I could listen to someone, at least once a week. I put the headset in and do chores, and talk with my phone pals or relatives. Why not one more person?

  If you can facilitate something like this, I think it would be great.

  by AllisonInSeattle on Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 06:31:45 PM PDT