
In the aftermath of the 2011 Joplin tornado, people dug their neighbors out of rubble, took chainsaws to downed trees and searched for lost pets and belongings. A common refrain from anyone asked how they were doing was simply, “I’m fine.”
Dr. Douglas Walker, a nationally renowned Mercy clinical psychologist who is based in New Orleans, serving in a Mercy outreach clinic, was asked to come to Joplin to help it heal. With so much focus on crisis and recovery, many day-to-day needs were going unmet. With that in mind, Dr. Walker and his colleagues developed what came to be called “How’s Your Five?”