One of the most widespread impacts from both the 2017 and 2019 fires was on our community’s mental health. “Children are especially impacted by disaster, often experiencing trauma-related fears, anxiety and sleep disruption, even after the disaster is over, ” said...
Studies show that widespread trauma and PTSD reactions are common after natural disasters, something we know all too well in the aftermath of the Kincade Fire, when stress levels and anxiety spiked for many of us. Unaddressed trauma has long-term effects on children’s...
Over the course of eight days this fall and winter, 115 community members from all walks of life—doctors, social workers, teachers, counselors, waiters, yoga instructors, chaplains—gathered to learn skills to help our community heal. Dr. Bo Greaves, who retired from...
Long after the chaos of a disaster is resolved, the ongoing effects become clear. Over the fall, nearly one year after the October 2017 fires, Sonoma County was in a critical stage of post-disaster recovery. This phase of the recovery process, when some people are...
When the fire swept through the Mark West Springs area of Santa Rosa on October 9 2017, Bill Chaplin was sleeping with his windows open. He woke up to his house, a place he had worked hard to keep, after years of homelessness, filling with smoke. “The entire horizon...
