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Date 4-17-06
Contact Shelia White 228.865.4573
Author Jason Sherwood
Gulfport—Dr.
Ray Scurfield, associate professor of Social Work at Southern Miss
Gulf Coast, has recently been named the 2006 Social Worker of the
Year by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).
Professor Margaret
Tullos from Delta State University nominated Scurfield after reading
one of his articles detailing his efforts in post traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) counseling and emergency housing assistance in Hurricane
Katrina’s aftermath. Scurfield called receiving the award “very
humbling.”
“I happened
to be at the conference doing a professional workshop. I was standing
in the back of the room when they announced the award. It was a
complete shock,” said Scurfield. “One lady kept coming up to me
asking if I was going to be around. As it turns out, she had been
assigned to make sure I was there when the award was presented.”
Scurfield calls
the Gulf Coast since Katrina “a war zone without the gunfire.” His
article details post-Katrina events at the university, including
the birth of new counseling services on the coast, which were sped
up and necessitated as a result of the storm.
Since Katrina,
Scurfield has worked to secure emergency housing arrangements for
employees and has been providing volunteer post-disaster counseling
services and workshops to faculty, staff and students. He says nine
faculty, 11 staff and eight students received the benefits of his
counseling services and many have attended his workshops.
A Vietnam veteran,
Scurfield served in the Department of Veterans Affairs for 25 years
and has directed many PTSD mental health programs throughout the
country. He is also internationally recognized for his expertise
in war-related PTSD with more than 250 publications, presentations,
appearances and research projects on the subject.
However, it
was his service, not his research, which warranted the NASW award,
and Scurfield says he’s still determined to bring help where it’s
needed.
“I’m on a mission
to educate people about trauma,” Scurfield says. “There’s an old
saying that time heals all wounds. That’s not true for all people.
What I offer is a means of coping and peacefully coexisting with
them.”
He says many
south Mississippi residents are mourning the loss of identity and
community on the coast. As the brink of a new hurricane season approaches,
Scurfield says he expects a resurgence of people seeking counseling,
and he will continue to provide his volunteer services to faculty,
staff and students.
For more information
about how to cope with traumatic issues, go to http://www.usm.edu/socialwork/
or contact Dr. Ray Scurfield at raymond.scurfield@usm.edu.
Click to enlarge
Dr. Ray Scurfield
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