Therapists in Altadena are providing free mental health services to wildfire survivors seven months after the Eaton Fire. Survivors, including therapists like Natalie Bowker and Melissa Lopez, are managing their grief while helping others. Bowker offers free group sessions on Zoom and Lopez grapples with her own PTSD and grief, having lost her home. Despite their involvement, therapists still confront personal trauma and emotional challenges, highlighting a complex dynamic of collective healing and individual struggle within the community.
"I don't think I've ever been such a crier. I feel like I cried a lot, all the time," said Lopez. "And PTSD really [messed] with my appetite. It's part of my politics to combat fatphobia, but I lost like 40 pounds."
After the fire, she also began offering regular, free group sessions for other wildfire survivors on Zoom.
Bowker and her family fled the neighborhood hours before fire took the house. Even with the destruction of her Altadena neighborhood all around, the view of the San Gabriel Mountains is breathtaking.
Helping facilitate free mental health services for fire survivors is no panacea for a therapist who's endured trauma herself.
Collection
[
|
...
]