Practitioners' Experiences Creating and Implementing an Emotional Recovery and Physical Activity Program following a Natural Disaster

Abstract

On April 27, 2011 a series of tornadoes tore through the southeast United States. Sixty-four percent of the counties in the state of Alabama were directly affected by these storms. After a natural disaster, children who are directly or indirectly affected show numerous intense emotional reactions. Recovery programs can be set up to enable them to combat these reactions, and decrease stress. At the University of Alabama, the goals of a recovery program were to reduce students' anxiety and stress levels, offer students developmentally appropriate physical activity, allow students the opportunity to share their experiences, and provide students with methods to cope with the traumatic event. The recovery program encompassed both somatic and physiological stress-reducing techniques in addition to art therapy and group sharing sessions. The purpose of this article is to describe how the recovery program was created, share the challenges that were faced, and explicate the experiences from the program.