In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, John Thoburn, associate professor of graduate psychology at SPU, joined his fellow PsyCorps founder, Seattle neuropsychologist Glen Goodwin, and four other colleagues in bringing aid to the Gulf region. “It was utter devastation,” he recalls. “I was amazed at the heart of the hurricane survivors.”

This was not the first time that PsyCorps, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide global psychological first aid to areas touched by trauma, received a call for such aid. Last year, the tsunami disaster pushed PsyCorps into existence. “We were in Sri Lanka in June, and are going back in the spring by invitation of the National Christian Evangelical Association of Sri Lanka. When Katrina happened, we all wanted to pitch in and help with that.”

After working with relief prototype organizations in Uganda, Bosnia, India, and Kosovo, Thoburn and Goodwin decided that, while primary physical aid is often well organized, secondary psychological aid is often inadequate. So when Goodwin founded PsyCorps, Thoburn supported the idea. One of the organization’s main relief methods is to train individuals in the affected areas. “Who better to offer aid than the people who are living there?” Thoburn asks. “We develop teams within a region. They can respond if a disaster occurs.”

Providing psychological relief to a traumatized area is not always easy. Regarding Katrina, Thoburn recalls, “Most of what I did was provide mental support for the caregivers.” The team of five found themselves listening to heart-wrenching stories, dealing with overwhelming loss and distress. Sometimes, enraged survivors who were not receiving adequate aid would call and unload their anger onto the caretakers. In those cases, Thoburn became a calming influence. “Usually, they’d just give me the phone,” remarks Thoburn.

Once the initial shock passes, however, 90 percent of survivors do establish new prospects for the future. And organizations such as PsyCorps help them get back on their feet. “First aid isn’t therapy,” says Thoburn. “It’s helping people tap into their sense of resiliency and instilling in them a feeling of hope.”