I am a counseling student. For a term paper in one of the classes the professor allowed us to chose a topic and a treatment modality to research and write paper on our findings. I was born in the Republic of Honduras which was resently devastated by a major hurricane. Many members of my family lost everything. After seeing so much suffering and pain, I chose to write my paper on victims of natural disasters and Reality Therapy is my choice of treatment. The professor wants us to use no less than 8 sources, at least 6 of which must be research articles from professional journals. Can you please point me in the right direction? I will greatly appreciate any help or advise. Thanks

-- Swany, Blanco (garifunab@aol.com), June 13, 2000

Answers

I am not aware of material on natural disasters but I do recall how our colleagues in Croatia used RT/CT in a war and post-war scenario. The Basic Needs helped them analyse the situation of refugees and displaced persons. Of course survival was of primary concern and structures for facilitating housing, food etc. followed from this. Next Love and Belonging emerged as the people began to wonder about the fate of their loved ones and neighbours. Again out of this arose structures for helping trace people. Fun too became important when people living in cramped and strange conditions needed ways to occupy their time. Games for children and courses for adults are some of the things I remember that they did. Freedom and Power of course required attention in due course. Hopefully some of our Croatian or Slovenian friends will spell out in detail some of their experiences and projects. They were very impressive and may help you in your work.

-- Brian Lennon (blennon@indigo.ie), June 14, 2000.

the concept of VICTIM is one that Glasser constantly refers to. He has written a paper with that title but the victims he concentrates on are jewish holocaust victims. There is however a book that I can thoroughly recommend that is almost totally compatible with Glasser's thinking. I think it would be particularly suitable for you because it represents the fruits of a lifetime of research on victims of disasters. It is "Shattered Assumptions " by Janof! Bulman!. I am not completely sure of the spelling of the lady's name although I think she is professor of counselling at one of the Northeastern Universities.

-- ken lyons (kenlyon@gofree.indigo.ie), June 15, 2000.