Missouri has received nearly $700,000 in federal funding to provide counseling and mental health services for citizens impacted by the disastrous storms and floods earlier this year.
Flooding has desecrated the Midwest — particularly Missouri — this year, displacing homes and causing cataclysmic damage to farms near the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers especially. Storms and tornadoes, too, have ripped through Missouri, leaving behind even more destruction.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has provided Missouri with $679,000 to offer counseling services related to the natural disasters in 20 counties that occurred from April 29 to July 5. The Show Me Hope counseling program is free and confidential, FEMA said in a news release.
The counties approved for the counseling services are: Andrew, Atchison, Boone, Buchanan, Carroll, Chariton, Cole, Greene, Holt, Jackson, Jasper, Lafayette, Lincoln, Livingston, Miller, Osage, Pike, Platte, Pulaski, and St. Charles.
Additionally, Missouri has applied for six other counties to be approved for the services: Callaway, Jefferson, Lewis, McDonald, Newton, and Saline. Earlier this month, FEMA approved those counties as eligible to apply for federal assistance as a result of the storms.
FEMA has already approved the 60-day intermediate services program, and the Department of Mental Health will apply for a nine month regular services program in September, a spokesperson confirmed.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS) says it’s common for individuals to experience emotional distress during floods. Signs of emotional distress, according to the federal agency, including feeling helpless or hopeless, continued fighting with loved ones, excessive absences from work or school, or experiencing constant memorials or thoughts regarding the flood that won’t dissipate.
A federal agriculture disaster declaration has been declared for 53 counties in Missouri due to flooding just this year.
Contact information for certain Show Me Hope providers is below:
-
- Pike County
- Arthur Center: 573-582-1234
- Boone, Carroll, Chariton and Greene counties
- Burrell Behavioral Health: 417-761-5898 Contact: Matt Lemmon
- Cole, Jackson, Lafayette, Lincoln, Miller, Osage, Pulaski and St. Charles counties
- Compass Health: 844-853-8937
- Livingston County
- Department of Mental Health: 573-751-3070
- Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Holt and Platte counties
- Family Guidance Center: 816-364-1501
- Jasper County
- Ozark Center: 417-434-3458
- Pike County
Additional counseling services are available to Missourians through a 24-hour disaster distress hotline at 800-985-5990. Individuals can also text “TalkWithUs” to 66746.
President Donald Trump signed a much-anticipated $19.1 billion disaster aid bill in June — which will provide relief for the storm-ravaged Show-Me State. Trump also approved requests for major disaster declarations in several Missouri counties.
Loading...
Reload document 
Open in new tab 
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
