Professionals urge tornado victims to consider their mental health as they recover

The Department of Mental Health says that Mobile Crisis Response Teams are present in impacted communities to meet mental health needs. The mobile crisis teams include specialists to help those experiencing mental health crises, and a hotline is available for those that need help via phone.

Sitaniel Wimley is the Executive Director of the Mississippi branch of the National Alliance of Mental Illness. She says that victims need to process and confront their emotional wounds just like they do their physical ones.

"They have to acknowledge it's ok not to be ok." she said. "That's one of the things that we as a society have a hard time dealing with and that's what the stigma is all about when it comes to mental health."

Other entities in the state are providing resources on mental healthcare during this time. David Buys is the state health specialist at the extension service of Mississippi State. He says the extension has collaborated with the college's psychology department to produce accessible materials on how victims can cope with stress, trauma, and survivor's guilt after the storm.

"After the storm, I talked to a survivor in the storm who described a situation where there were two people in the same house, one of them lived and the other didn't." he said, "Then I thought about the challenge that that must be for the one who survived... We've got to talk about survivor's guilt, help people recognize that... so that they can then harness those feelings and work through them."

NAMI also provides conference call-style support groups and crisis hotlines for those struggling with mental illness.