What's Next for DartHeart?

 
In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the people of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region have demonstrated the need for an unprecedented amount of support. While many organizations have stepped in and provided medical care, food, and shelter to the many victims injured and displaced by the damage, mental health care will soon need to be addressed in the region. In particular, the incidence of post traumatic stress among victims of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake is expected to be high.

We, at DartHeart, are exploring available avenues to provide support for the trauma victims in Haiti. In particular, our model has the potential to be applied to rural and underprivileged communities because we keep costs low and rely on the power of peer-support rather than employing medical professionals to lead recovery groups. In the next several weeks, we will be creating a detailed outline of the structure of our recovery process in the hopes of connecting with organizations and response teams in Haiti during the Spring.

Although the traumatic event causing post traumatic stress may be distinct among survivors, the similarities we share in our recovery process and response to every day situations because of the impact of this stress allow us to understand one another and offer support. Through unity and community mentorship, we have an overarching goal of changing the general perception of survivors as we raise awareness about the recovery process from post traumatic stress. As such, we hope to create a universally applicable recovery program, which we can provide to communities with which ongoing communication is more difficult. While we are beginning this expansion process with outreach in Haiti, we continue to seek out other communities globally, which would benefit from a trauma recovery program.