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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

24-Hour Hotline Helps People Cope as 9/11 Anniversary Approaches

LOWER MANHATTAN — As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, people may begin to feel renewed surges of grief and anxiety, experts say.

To help New Yorkers, 9/11 family members and people around the country cope with the anniversary, the Mental Health Association of New York City is offering a 9-11 Healing & Remembrance Program, which includes a counseling hotline, travel stipends and emotional support to help victims' families to travel to Ground Zero.

The group also has a website with information about commemorative events around the country.

"The anniversary can evoke strong emotions, sometimes as strong as when the event happened," said April Naturale, 51, a traumatic stress therapist who is leading the program.

The anniversary brings all the disturbing images and detailed chronicles of the horror back to the forefront, possibly triggering long-buried memories and feelings, Naturale said.

The 9-11 Healing & Remembrance Program's 24-hour hotline launched this spring and has fielded calls ranging from recovery workers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to parents wondering how to talk about 9/11 with their children, Naturale said.

The hotline has also received many calls from 9/11 family members who are considering traveling to one of the attack sites for the anniversary but are anxious about their safety.

"People are afraid that these areas may actually be the target of another terrorist attack," Naturale said.

The counselors talk to those family members about their fears and may suggest a host of options, including marking the anniversary in their own community if it makes them more comfortable. Or the counselors may offer tips on managing the anxiety through breathing exercises and emotional support, Naturale said.

New Yorkers who have strong 9/11 memories may want to make advance plans on how they will spend the anniversary, Naturale said. She suggested New Yorkers get together with friends who understand their experience, or they may want to reunite with those they were with on 9/11, whether they were fleeing the burning towers or watching the disaster unfold from their rooftop several miles away.

"The most important thing is not to be alone," Naturale said.

While the ubiquitous images of the attack and the intense media focus on the anniversary won't help those who are feeling echoes of their earlier trauma, Naturale pointed out that disaster anniversaries have always been difficult for people to cope with, even before the advent of television and the internet.

Humans shape their existence by rituals that mark time, and just like we mark births and deaths, we also mark major events, both positive and negative, Naturale said.

And because memories are stored physically, subject to triggers from any of the five senses, even subtle similarities like the sight of a plane or the stillness of a crisp autumn morning can bring back a flood of emotions, she said.

Naturale has a long history of responding to crises. She directed Project Liberty after 9/11, which put 5,000 counselors on the streets of New York and ultimately treated 1.2 million people over three years.

Naturale has also lent her skills to many other ravaged communities, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Baton Rouge after the Gulf oil spill. She is now writing a book about her post-9/11 work.

The most common response on previous 9/11 anniversaries has been a sense of sadness, Naturale said. People may begin feeling overwhelming grief days or even weeks before the anniversary without realizing the cause, and the feeling will likely peak on the anniversary itself. People also may feel nothing, and should know that that is normal as well.

The good news, Naturale said, is that the trauma-related emotions usually drop off almost immediately after the anniversary, with people feeling better on Sept. 12 than they did the entire week before.

"People can manage and adapt to these traumas," Naturale said.

For more information, visit the 9-11 Healing & Remembrance website or call the hotline at 866-212-0444. The hotline will be operational through September 2012.