FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                           

For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957, schampli@uthsc.edu or

Dena Owens – (901) 448-4072, dowens10@uthsc.edu

 

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Department of Psychiatry 

Offers Free Counseling to Flood Victims

________________________________________

Memphis, Tenn. (May 13, 2011) – Starting May 26, the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) will offer free counseling services to victims of the recent flooding in the Memphis area.  Experts in the department will provide weekday appointments for counseling sessions at the UT Psychiatry Clinic, 920 Madison Avenue, 2^nd floor, located on UT Health Science Center’s main campus in Memphis.  Citizens who reside further from Memphis in remote areas of Tennessee can still access the counseling services through the department’s telepsychiatry webcam.  This technology allows counselors to provide sessions remotely to rural locations by appointment on weekdays or weekends.  

Iverson Bell, Jr., MD, DFAPA, assistant professor and program director for the UTHSC Department of Psychiatry, will lead the disaster counseling effort.  Dr. Bell has 30 years of experience in psychiatry and has served as a psychiatrist in private practice, as well as for the U.S. Army.

            “We recognize that as the flood victims maneuver through their challenges, many may require emotional guidance and support to overcome the stress from the disaster and the trauma of having to rebuild their environments,” said Dr. Bell.  “We have board- certified experts at UTHSC who are ready and willing to help these individuals transition through this trying time.  We don’t seek to cure all of the problems, but we will extend our services and do the best we can to help as many citizens as possible.”  

The UT Psychiatry Clinic experts include board-certified adult and child psychiatrists, as well as a nurse psychotherapist, a social worker, a psychologist, and volunteer psychiatrists in training to assist disaster victims.  The clinic will provide supportive individual and group therapy services to help these individuals improve their coping skills, as well as to treat anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression.  The UT Psychiatry Clinic is also able to make referrals as needed.

To make an appointment for disaster counseling or to obtain more information, interested individuals should contact the UT Psychiatry Clinic by calling 901-448-2400 or e-mailing disastercounseling@uthsc.edu.

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service.  In 2011, UT Health Science Center celebrates its centennial: 100 years advancing the future of health care.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  The UTHSC campus in Knoxville includes a College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  In addition, the UTHSC Chattanooga campus includes a College of Medicine and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  Since its founding in 1911, UTHSC has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals on campuses and in health care facilities across the state.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

###