The director of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health in New Paltz is helping to provide emotional support for families and first responders who visit the 9/11 Memorial Museum at the World at the World Trade Center site.
Dr. James Halpern, director of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is joining Red Cross mental health volunteers to assist with providing emotional support for families, survivors, first responders, and visitors touring the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City until May 21. Halpern says for those who lost loved ones or were injured on that day, attending the museum opening will likely be very difficult. Halpern led the first organized Red Cross disaster mental health team to Ground Zero; managed the Missing Persons Hotline; and assisted residents in moving back to their neighborhoods. President Barack Obama and others dignitaries attended the dedication of the National September 11 Memorial Museum Thursday. The Memorial Museum opens to the public May 21.
