Professor to Aid in Thailand after Tsunami Disaster

January 26, 2005

Associate Professor of Graduate Studies in Counseling Kathryn Norsworthy will travel to Thailand at the end of January and spend two weeks assisting with counseling needs following the tsunami disaster.

Norsworthy, a Cornell Distinguished Scholar, was invited to assist in training workers to counsel tsunami survivors and their families. She will work with her colleague, Ouyporn Khuankaew, who is a Thai national living in northern Thailand. Ouyporn will come to the U.S. and visit Rollins during the first week of March.

Norsworthy will be training frontline counselors to work with survivors and their families. By training residents who live there to counsel survivors, the money that would have been used for flying Western professionals in to help can be used in purposes that better serve the victims of the disaster.

"It's been so hard, because I would probably have been [in Thailand] working [at the time of the tsunamis] if it had not been for a sick relative here," Norsworthy said.

The International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) Tsunami Project and the Tsunami Action Group invited Norsworthy to come assist in training.

"It's fortuitous that there's been preparation and groundwork that we can build on. I'm very appreciative for the support over the years from the Critchfields, and Rollins' support," Norsworthy said.