PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGE
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recently estimated that half a million people who were affected by Hurricane Katrina may need some form of mental health counseling. And many of those people were already feeling the psychological pinch of being at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.

There’s no question that being isolated by poverty can lead to profound feelings of inferiority and depression. One of the nation’s largest studies of depression shows that "chronic depressive episodes are common and are associated with poorer physical health, lower quality of life, socioeconomic disadvantage and minority status."1 How can the poor get out of the psychological hole and explore opportunities to create a new life and a new future?

The Fish Foundation works with psychiactric professionals to bring sliding-scale counseling to impoverished communities.  Low-cost counseling can offer a way out, and a way to deal with the cumulative stress of casual violence and pervasive poverty.  Furthermore, counseling can not only deal with post-traumatic stress or depression, but also can become a preventative measure with conflict resolution training.  People can use this training in “compassionate communication” to resolve problems, instead of violence.

1. "Depression Factors: Poor Health, Poverty, Minority Status," Northwestern University NewsCenter, December 7 2005.