Children of the City: Remembering 9-11

It was just like any other Tuesday, but it ended up being Tuesday 9/11: and as the world watched in horror while two hijacked airplanes bought down the Twin Towers in New York, many families and children suffered. Children of the City was one of the first organizations to reach out to children who lost family members and loved ones, who were traumatized by visually seeing the attacks live or were exposed to the barrage of media attention. Its program, Heal New York, was birthed out of an immediate response to 9/11. The charity's program ran from September 2001 through August 2005, and served critical trauma and prevailing mental health issues and social problems, through counseling, and activities with group therapy.

Today, in memory, for four hours heads were bowed at Ground Zero in New York, as the names of all 2,974 victims were read out in memorial to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The memorial included a total of 208 people who took part in the roll call as thousands of relatives of those who died in the attacks gathered in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, overlooking the site of the World Trade Center on the seventh anniversary of its collapse.

Years later, the effects of that day are not forgotten—and Children of the City continues to counsel children and their families, most of whom would otherwise not have received help to cope with this devastating trauma in their lives. The program officially ran from Sepember 2001 through August 2005.

Some parents today even have trouble teaching their children how to deal with such a horrible event in our history. This article posted on the TeacherVision web site, written shortly after the attacks, give some age-specific ideas on how to deal with the subject.

Children who experience trauma have typical reactions that hinder them from completing one stage of development, says Erickson's Developmental Stages. 9/11 created feelings of helplessness, fear, and general regression for very young kids. Children between the ages of 6-11 were unable to focus on their school work resulting in many being held back to repeat the grade.

The good news is that more than 600 children and youth were served to through Heal New York. Counseling sessions have been provided in the homes monthly, and coupled with the counseling, there have been many group therapeutic activities, including art and play therapy, sports, and journaling.

Children of the City expanded its Heal New York counseling program to a broader populace of children due to the large amount of pre-existing trauma and prevailing mental health issues. This detection, followed by adequate counseling and instruction for both parents and children, ensure that destructive behavioral patterns are not perpetuated from generation to generation.

Learn more about the charities that I support for education of our youth at http://www.roccobasile.org/.