Blog Post

Calling all Mental Health Counselors and Trauma Specialists:  Guatemala Recovery Brigade

Shane Engel • Jul 11, 2018

HOPE worldwide is calling on mental health professionals who are trained in trauma counseling to travel to Guatemala in August to serve survivors of the Volcan de Fuego eruption. The HOPE worldwide Guatemala team along with HOPE worldwide ’s Global Disaster Response team have identified the need to assist survivors in recovering from this terrible tragedy.

You will be volunteering as part of the HOPE worldwide Community Service Brigade in August 23-27, 2018. To apply, visit www.hopeww.org/csb

You will be required to attend a 1-hour web based training in mid-August. The CSB needs 10-15 Mental Health Professionals. This will be a non-traditional counseling setting as you will have a single session and will provide tools for recovery. More than anything you will provide a safe haven for survivors to talk!

Fluency in Spanish is preferred but not required.

For more information, please visit www.hopeww.org/csb

You can also contact:

Walter Kotkowski
walter.kotkowski@hopeww.org , Vice President, Procurement

Lori Kotkowski, Executive Assistant, Community Service Brigades
lori.kotkowski@hopeww.org

or

Dave Tomlinson, Director, Disaster Response
North America and the Caribbean
dave.tomlinson@hopeww.org

A note from the Mental Health Brigade Team Leader Cynthia Neal, NP

My name is Cynthia Neal and I have had the privilege of serving as a psychiatric nurse practitioner on three different medical brigades to Guatemala. I spent about 20 to 30 minutes with each person that was identified as needing mental health services. At first I felt like what I was doing was so minimal and would question if I were doing any good at all. But time after time, every person I was able to meet with would tell me how grateful they were for the time we spent together, to be able to share their story with me, and for the compassion they could tell I felt for them. They shared with me how blessed they felt to have connected in the way that we did, and to have learned the exercises that I gave to them to help with their anxieties and sadness. I can’t tell you how deeply satisfying it is to use my gifts and training to serve this amazing community. I look forward to working with you in August and am absolutely convinced that if you serve in this capacity you will walk away from the experience as a changed individual. Feel free to contact me with questions at cynthianeal@comcast.net.

Thank you so much for all your support!

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