Jamie Aten inspired our Letters to God project

By Jean Prescott

Mar. 28, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
Today's Your Life page looks at a new project mounted by Jamie Aten, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi, and a colleague, Sharon Topping. It encompasses much of what Aten learned here in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as he did faith-based research into the way the storm affected survivors' spiritually.

As promised, we offer here a story we did about him which was published on Sept. 8, 2006. We have labeled it "Meet Jamie Aten."

The second section is part of the Sun Herald's Letters to God project which grew out of Aten's research and what he told us about it; that part is labeled -- what else? -- "Letters to God," written Sept. 29, 2006.

His and Topping's new project could affect Coast church communities as positively as his earlier research did.

Meet Jamie Aten

People who hadn't thought about their faith in years told a USM psych professor they saw God in other people for the first time after Hurricane Katrina.

"God was driving the relief vans down the highway. He was in the kitchen serving soup," Jamie Aten remembers Katrina survivors telling him and his graduate students who interviewed them after the storm.

"We were surprised by the overwhelmingly positive spirit displayed."

Aten, a Midwesterner, arrived in South Mississippi with his wife and young daughter just a week before Hurricane Katrina walloped the area. He hardly imagined his first hurricane experience would enable him to pursue a personal and professional passion, the way in which spirituality enters into treatment and therapy.

"Typically spirituality is important to our clients, but they aren't aware it's OK to talk about it (with us), and they are sometimes surprised" when a therapist encourages them to elaborate on their faith and their view of God. Historically, the mental-health and faith communities are at odds.

Things have changed in the last 20 years, Aten says, and his post-Katrina research hastens that change.

"Actually we did several studies," he said. "In one, we gathered data from 500 people," the kind in which participants "check a box and go on."

"We also sat with others for an hour or more and asked them questions about how Katrina had affected their beliefs. One woman actually lost her brother. Another was severely injured. Most lost major resources.

"And out of all that, belief in God was strengthened," Aten said. "They were thankful for what they had left, and they said they used (Katrina) as a kind of learning experience. It taught them that material things are unimportant" and that community is.

Aten's one-on-one study began with the following research question: "How do individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina view or conceptualize God?"

He and his grad students interviewed 21 participants -- 12 women, nine men -- all of whom experienced some form of loss to the storm. Fourteen of the 21 were white, seven were black; average age, 48. And religious affiliations varied but included Lutheran, Baptist and non-denominational.

"Participants reported a multifaceted view of God following the storm, and they used their images of God to help explain and make meaning of their hurricane experience," Aten says in his study.

His interest in the relationship between spirituality and mental and emotional health "stems from working with my clients and seeing the important role spirituality plays in their lives."

It is a quite complex and challenging study, he says, because it differs dramatically from person to person, though "more than 90 percent of Americans say they have a belief in God, and the majority (of people) who come to therapy say spirituality is important to them."

Aten hopes to expand into the area of how spirituality can affect combat trauma, and the implications of spirituality in overcoming cancer.

In fact, Aten said, "I just landed a grant to look at the role of the African-American church in overcoming health disparities."

Letters to God

Horrors can harden and defeat those subjected to them. But terrible experiences also apparently can educate and uplift. So say some Katrina survivors.

Three weeks ago on this page, a University of Southern Mississippi psychology professor shared the results of surveys he had taken among Katrina survivors, and mostly they reflected on the goodness and grace experienced in the hurricane's wake. In a solicitation that same day, we invited survivors to write letters to God about what their hurricane experiences had taught them.

Twenty-two letters later, goodness and grace outshine anger and despair by 90-some percent. Among all those letters, only two are even remotely negative.

Some used humor to communicate their lesson. Case in point, Darryll Barksdale, who begins with, "It's me again, but this time, I'm not asking for anything." He lists lessons learned and closes with a thank-you for having been taught them -- again.

Biloxi Realtor Arlene Stewart playfully asks about His plans for future hurricanes, then concludes this way: "Thank you for testing our faith. I hope we passed and will someday graduate to heaven."

Jan Baria of Ocean Springs reflected on her 70th birthday with joy in her heart despite having lost her husband of 53 years just a month before Katrina. Safety and blessings were on Lonnie Harrell's mind. And Eddie J. Holt is confident his 40-year plan for dealing with hurricanes is in line with God's word.

In a multiple-stanza rhyming letter, Sybil J. Steuart of Ocean Springs found gratitude for all the volunteer workers:

"Help comes from far and near

"As others share our tears

"Bringing supplies so we can cope

"We find their care renews our hope."

The Harpers, William and Martha, were similarly grateful: "Before the storm, we would have considered ourselves generous people, but our giving pales in comparison to what others did for us."

"Thank you for keeping me sober through this. Thank you for everything," wrote someone who identified herself simply as Jennifer. She signed off with, "See you at temple."

Ronda Hatch of Long Beach briefly laments the loss of a cross necklace she clutched for most of the storm's 12 hours but then quotes author and teaching minister Max Lucado: "It's what we do for Christ in the here and now that will make a difference in the then and there."

Seven-year-old Lindsey Campbell became a Christian and was baptized in July, because, she wrote, "I felt bad for people and wanted to get Jesus in my heart."

Finally came a bundle of handwritten letters from 10 teenagers, all of them in Anna Kalom's 11th-grade English classes at Our Lady Academy and St. Stanislaus College in Bay St. Louis.

Jaimie Reisch, Candace Dollar, Madeline Drake, Miriam Taylor, Nova Strong, Megan Bermond, Charly Gamard, Jordan Talley, Scott Zimmerman and Karli Renz all felt fortunate to still have their loved ones.

"As I sit here and write to you, I can still picture myself, confused and lost after the storm on where to go next. I did not find an answer until I completely turned myself over to you," Miriam Taylor wrote.

"It helped me to see how strong my parents really are. They were in my house with 12 feet of water and a dog, and they are both in their 60s," wrote Charly Gamard.

And these words to live by came from Scott Zimmerman: "We should be thankful for what we have because tomorrow, it might not be there. So live deliberately."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0021-24093088