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Counseling could await hostages By Melissa Martin When the Gold Hill hostages are free of their jungle captivity and reunited with family, they could be debriefed and counseled to help them overcome the trauma they experienced, according to an international crisis counselor. Psychological debriefing sessions can help a hostage re-enter society and can help bring healing for family members, said Laura Mae Gardner, an international vice president with Summer Institute of Linguistics/Wycliffe Bible Translators, a mission agency in Texas. How to help ease the transition Friends and community members can help ease the Gold Hill hostages� transition back into Oregon life by being patient and offering a listening ear, an international crisis counselor said. "Allow the men to speak, to tell the story in their own way. And be prepared for strong emotion," said Laura Mae Gardner, with Dallas-based Summer Institute of Linguistics/Wycliffe Bible Translators, an international mission organization. "Be caring and responsive to the needs of the men," she said. The more the hostages tell their story, the more pieces they will remember, Gardner said. The men may also need to grieve the loss of their fellow captive, Missouri hostage Ronald Sanders, who was murdered Jan. 31 by kidnappers. "They may feel guilty and wonder why they were allowed to be released and he was not," she said. Such counseling sessions may be held for Gold Hill residents Arnold Alford, 41, Steve Derry, 40, and Jason Weber, 29, and New Zealander Dennis Corrin, employees of Central Point-based Erickson Air-Crane. They are among seven men held captive in Ecuador�s Amazon jungle. Gunmen abducted them Oct. 12 from an oil camp near the Colombia border. Two captives escaped and a third was killed. According to Ecuador government officials, Erickson Air Crane and the oil companies agreed to pay a $13 million ransom for the hostages� release. The release process is expected to take several days, police sources in Ecuador said Friday. Hostages need a transition between captivity and freedom, said Gardner, who developed Wycliffe�s debriefing program a decade ago because of the increase in missionary abductions. Of the many debriefings she�s held with missionaries, she remembers most North Carolinian Ray Raising, kidnapped in Colombia in 1994 and released in 1996. "My team and I flew to Charlotte and we met the plane when Mr. Raising came," Gardner said in a telephone interview from Dallas Saturday. "It was a very dramatic moment. I was standing beside his wife while she waited at the end of the runway. It was very touching to see their reunion and his reunion with their son." Gardner led a week of debriefing at a mountain retreat in a neighboring state. During that time, the Wycliffe missionary told his family about his time in captivity. "It was significant for them; they needed to hear the freshness of this man�s experiences, just as he needed to tell it. "It was healing for him and for the entire family. It�s the beginning of the re-entry process because he has missed a great deal. It helps him get over the initial shock and back into intimacy and back into community," Gardner said. Because a hostage�s emotions may be unstable, his first week back should be private, safe and leisurely, she said. "In (Raising�s) case, this gentleman was remarkably hardy and resilient and there was no question about his composure and mental state. He attributes that to his Christian experience and to all the prayer that was offered for him," Gardner said. A hostage�s emotional state depends partly on how isolated he�s been from the outside world, she said. "When Ray was in captivity, he had no word from anyone for 15 months. He had no word of anyone making efforts to obtain his release. He didn�t know how his elderly mother was or anything about his family. "When he was released, there was the sudden emotion of seeing his family, seeing the American flag, of feeling free. These things are precious and powerful." Gardner described another case of a kidnapped missionary who was threatened constantly while held in captivity in the Philippines. When he was released, the debriefing team wanted to make sure he felt safe and cared for. "At the foot of the stairway when he got off the airplane were two of his best friends. It meant so much to him to see them there," Gardner said. At the time of the reunion, hostages need to see "someone they know and feel affection toward and feel a part of," she said. There�s also the timing of talking with reporters, she said. "If hostages haven�t been held for a long time and if they�ve not been harmed, they may be ready to give a statement to the media," Gardner said. "It depends on what shape they are in." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.