GFD backs crisis counselling for trauma victims

Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) has expressed readiness to offer crisis counselling services to survivors of June 3 flood/fire disasters in order to mitigate the shock and pain they might be enduring.

“We the federation will acknowledge any survivor or victim of the flood and fire disasters to give them some kind of counselling to overcome the shock and grief they are going through,” Mr Yaw Ofori-Debrah, President of the Federation told the Ghana News Agency on Sunday.

He said psychotherapy is critically required to help traumatised victims of the disasters to recover from their intense emotions.

The purpose of crisis counselling is to help relieve grief reactions, stress, or emotional problems caused or aggravated by the disaster or its aftermath by educating individuals about normal reactions to such events and how best to deal with them, he added.

"Stress is understandable when people have been frightened by violent weather, thrust into strange new situations and forced to cope with personal losses."

He said people often need help to deal with sudden adversity in their world.

"No one who has experienced a disaster is unaffected by it, we try to prevent them from being overwhelmed and work to empower them to regain control of their lives,” he said.

Mr Ofori-Debrah said the Federation recognises efforts by government to help the victims in various forms but noted that it ought to speed up action on improving the drainage systems in the capital city to stop future occurrences of preventable disasters.

The President called on the city authorities to take steps to cover all open gutters and expand the narrow ones to allow easy flow of water during downpour.

The government should be bold and enforce laws that prohibit building on watercourses and locating fuel stations in unauthorised places, particularly in residential and highly densely populated areas, he added.