Essay

in 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated many parts of the Gulf Coast, Particularly hard hit was the Ninth Ward in  New Orleans, Louisiana. Researchers later concluded that the damage was ultimately not caused by the fast winds of the hurricane but by flooding and breaking of the levees. In the wake of the hurricane, many people had to flee for their lives from the Ninth Ward and other areas. one family that had to leave was that of MR. and Mrs. jean Dupree, their four children, and Mr. Dupree’s elderly mother and father. The Dupree family had lived for many generations in new Orleans and had played an active role in their parish’s service organizations and their children’s school. Mr Dupree was a highly skilled carpenter and Mrs. Dupree was a wonderful baker and had a small business from her home where she was helping to care for her frail mother-in-law and father-in-law and her young daughter.

FEMA temporarily relocated the Dupree family to a small town in western Pennsylvania. The Duprees arrived with only clothes handed out to them at a disaster center in Texas and little possessions since they did not have time to remove anything from their home and could only carry with them what was truly needed for survival. Mrs. Dupree was sad that they were not able to retrieve the book with their weIDing pictures and a book of ancient photographs with pictures of her now deceased parents and her husband’s parents when they were younger and healthier. she was especially sad to leave behind a book containing baby pictures of their children. family mementos and jewelry may also be lost to the waters forever. The Dupree were uneasy when they arrived. They were African American and catholic and the townspeople seemed to be nearly all white and they only saw protestant churches when they walked around the town.

The Duprees’s case was assigned to a local social service agency. They met with a counselor who reminded them that them that this was only a temporary solution until they could eventually return to their home in the Ninth ward. The Duprees asked how long that would be and she replied that she did not know. The Duprees asked for a ball park figure and again the counselor said that she did not know and that they must make the best of the situation now. She had found an apartment for them which she thought would be ideal. It had two bedrooms. The grandparents could sleep in one bedroom with the Duprees five year old daughter. The eleven year old son and the nine year old son could share the living room. The parents could sleep in the other bedroom with their two-year- old daughter. The counselor said that she had found daycare for her the two year old.
the counselor said that the other sister and two brothers could attend the local grammar school. She had found work for the father as a laborer in a construction crew. She said that Mrs. Dupree could work in the local high school cafeteria and she had found some home car for the grandparets, she said that if these arrangements do not work out she might be able to temporarily place the granparents in a nursing home. The Duprees sat silently for a lot of the counselor’s annoucements rarely looking up. the counselor pressured them to respond to her and asked if they were not pleased that all the services seemed to be in place . mr dupree tried to explain to her that his wife and he were accustomed to living in their own home and being self-employed and that the family preferred to take cre of his parents rather than having them cared for by strangers. the family also preferred to take care of their young daugher rather than having her in daycare. he acknowledgeed school year had already started and that he did not want his children to miss too much more of school but he thought that the family still needed some time to settle in. Also, children were accustomed to attending their local parish school and he was concerned what values might be taught in the local school in this community. The counselor turned to the mother and asked if she saw the same way that her husband did. Mrs. dupree said that she did not want tobe separated from her children, her husband, or her mother in law and father in law, she explained that people in their neigborhood had died or were still missing and that her family was still trying to recover from the shock.

The counselor asked the family to excuse her for a fwe minutes while she went to check on a few details. she went straight to her supervisor and expressed frustration with the family insisting that they were hostile and distant. Then, when she finally got them to talk thy got all emotional. fortunately for her, as her supervisor, you are a health counselor and educator who has good listening skills and who is sensitive to cultural differences. How would you have handled the first session with Duprees differently?
Guidance question ?
How might counseling help the Duprees?
What are the potential multicultural issues about which you must be sensitive in working with the Dupree family ?
How would you use your Attending, empathy and observational skills to help the duprees to tell their story?
What kinds of questions might you ask the Duprees to help the interview flow and gain critical information about them?
How would you use your active listening skills of encouraging, paraphrasing and summarizing to build an empathic relationship with the Dupree family ?
How might you reflect feelings to hel the duprees better understand and clarify their feelings and support their expressiveness in away that helps both cognitive functioning and emotional regulation?
After helping the Dupree family to draw out and elaborate their story, what do you think are the major concerns and challenges for the duprees and what are their strengths and resources?