Responding to Mental Health Issues Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: School and Community Partnership at Work

Last fall, Hurricane Katrina displaced approximately 370,000 school-aged children and their families, more than 10,000 of whom enrolled in Houston area school districts. The displaced students arrived in schools suffering from varying degrees of trauma. Several months later, when Hurricane Rita threatened the greater Houston region, it produced large-scale evacuations, further disruptions to schools and family services, and a broadening and deepening of the trauma experienced by both the old and new Houston residents. In the aftermath of these two hurricanes, several important lessons were learned regarding the benefits of preparation and delivery of mental health services through the schools. As the Houston experience demonstrates, in times of crises, schools often provide the best access and greatest potential to provide effective trauma relief services that meet the unfolding needs of students and their families. Their success in meeting these needs is directly related to the strength of school-based mental health programs and partnerships that schools have built with community mental health services agencies.

In Houston, an infrastructure was already in place to meet the extreme circumstances caused by Hurricane Katrina thanks to a partnership between the Houston public schools and DePelchin Children