Clinical psychologist and disaster recovery pioneer Rob Gordon OAM met with residents at Blackwood Hall on Thursday evening to discuss grief, trauma and strategies for recovery.

The session marked six months since the June storms which left a trail of destruction in the region, cutting off towns from communication and water, with residents searching for safe shelter in wild winds.

Dr Gordon told The Courier residents were continuing to experience stress, grief, loss, anxiety and disruptions their lives.

He said it was important residents understood trauma and its ongoing effects as storm recovery continued.

"The extremely disturbing experience you have on the day that change your feelings of safety, security and confidence," he said.

"There are a number of people who have very serious life threatening experiences with trees failing on houses.

"The trauma is not necessarily what happens, it is what you think was going to happen or what might have happened.

"If a tree fell on your garage, you might think 'it could have fallen on our bedroom and I would have been dead'. That is a life changing experience."

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Dr Gordon has been working with communities around Australia and New Zealand on disaster recovery for almost four decades, following bushfires, cyclones and other major events.

He said the recovery from the June storm event in the region had a unique element which was creating added uncertainty and anxiety for residents - the extraordinary number of trees that still needed to be cleared.

Dr Gordon said fallen trees that were not covered for clearing by insurance and other formalised arrangements were posing a big problem and an overwhelming clean up effort.

"There are the physical problems of people repairing their houses... and the uncertainty about what will happen to the trees and this is very stressful situation," he said.

"When people are in a highly stressed state like this any other factors beyond just the physical problems of getting their life organised multiply the quality of the stress."

Dr Gordon said many residents had fallen trees all over their properties.

"They can't get into their paddocks and no one has got responsibility for trees," he said.

"The Wombat Forest is littered with trees and that will become a fire risk.

"It will take some time to work out what to do

"As far as the community is concerned, week after week has passed and nothing is happening on something they feel should be fixed.

"People have got to disengage with this strong sense that 'someone should fix this', to 'we have to live this with a long time, let's figure out how to do this'.

"It is a change in mental attitude. That can make a huge difference to how you feel when you walk out the door every morning."

Dr Gordon said further experiences of wind could bring back emotions and open old wounds and it was important people realised this was a trauma response.

He said people should also understand feeling grief was a way of coming to terms with loss: loss of property and environment.

"People live in these places because they love the trees, some people probably have personal relationship with trees that have been growing outside their door all their lives," he said.

"Grief involves sadness and pain but that is what helps us move along.

"The risk is because people don't understand grief and the helplessness of loss, that you just have to accept it, it can stir up feelings of anger and blame," he said.

"People can become irritable with their loved ones, their neighbours and the government, saying people should fix this up.

"The shires in the area have been doing a great job, they have been out early, engaged in a lot of supportive activities, but the risk is the communities start to fracture and conflicts develop.

"I congratulate the shires in being in their early - my understanding is that is not happening too much."

Dr Gordon said another effect of the storm events was the disruption to normal patterns of life, with huge amounts of clean up throwing routines, including hobbies and family time 'out the window'.

"If people are like that for a year or two, which is how long recovery takes, when they come out the other side they find their relationships aren't strong, they have put on weight, their diet has changed, their lives become degraded and joyless," he said.

Dr Gordon said it was important for residents to understand this now, to slow down and look after the important things in life.

"Look after those things, keep them all going because that is your source of energy," he said.

"Slowly plump through recovery as you can, don't rush through it."

Dr Gordon shared a story from his time working with residents after the Black Summer fires, a husband and wife who said they recognised themselves in his talk and felt exhausted and demoralised.

"They told me after the talk they stopped and thought about it, decided to renovate the outbuilding on their property that survived the fire, would live in that, give themselves a year or so and then plan what are we going to," he said.

"They said 'thank you very much because we can now see our way clear'.

"What you often get is people rushing around making very quick decisions. I had a person in a talk four or five years after Black Saturday.

"They said listening to the talk they can see they rebuilt too early, they didn't stop and think, did things too quickly and could have had a much more creative and enjoyable house if they had taken the time."

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Dr Gordon said this information on dealing with trauma after disaster events would become more important as weather events and disasters became more frequent.

He said family and friends should keep in mind it can take many years to recover and support will continue to be needed, particularly as many people can become demoralised.

Dr Gordon has completed a number of sessions with residents, including in Trentham, and with Moorabool Shire and Hepburn Shire council staff.

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