Tagged With "Tubbs fire"
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Action Alert: Provide feedback on the county fire recovery plan!
If you were unable to make it to any of the Fire Recovery Community Listening Forums hosted by the Sonoma County Office of Recovery and Resiliency has in July and August, you still have a chance to provide your feedback to the Draft Recovery and Resiliency Framework. The framework covers five strategic areas: Community Preparedness and Infrastructure, Housing, Economy, Natural Resources, and Safety Net Services.
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Add the Issue of ACEs to the Sonoma County Fire Recovery Plan!
As part of coordinating Sonoma County’s recovery from last year’s fires, The County Board created the Office of Recovery and Resilience. They are now in the process of collecting input on their first draft of a recovery plan. I attended the first of several community meetings on July 10 th , 2018. The plan concentrates on addressing five strategy areas; Community Preparedness and Infrastructure, Housing, Economy, Natural Resources, and Safety Net Services. As someone interested in ACEs and...
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Addressing Trauma and Building Resiliency as Comprehensive Disaster Planning and Response
The attached memo is intended to make observations about communities affected by disaster-related trauma, and to offer recommendations for trauma-informed recovery. Community examples provide case studies or models for other communities grappling with similar issues. Suggested resources and tools provide communities with support for accelerated action. Memo authors represent active cross sector networks that contribute to resilient community infrastructure development, awareness building,...
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ANNOUNCING: $700,000 GRANT TO SONOMA LAND TRUST TO PROTECT CRITICAL OPEN SPACE LAND AT SONOMA DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER [CFSC]
By Caitlin Childs, June 26, 2019, Community Foundation Sonoma County We are so pleased to announce this wonderful news: Thanks to the vision of a family that cared deeply about the future of Sonoma County, the Sonoma Land Trust has received a $700,000 grant from Community Foundation Sonoma County and our regional affiliate the Sonoma Valley Fund to protect more than 700 acres of open space, trails and natural resources at the site of the former Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC). This grant...
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Community After Disaster, a Therapist’s Musings
Here in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties, the entire community experienced prolonged and extensive hyper-arousal – days on end of watching and wondering where the fires would burn next, and far too many sleepless nights. According to the literature on disasters, what follows is a brief honeymoon period, characterized by community cohesion and gratitude. Sonoma County showed up for each other in major ways in the past couple of weeks, and the outpouring of gratitude to the first responders...
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County Supervisors Approve Recovery and Resiliency Framework
SANTA ROSA – On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved the Recovery and Resiliency Framework which serves as a vision and approach for how Sonoma County will recover and emerge more resilient from the October 2017 wildfires. The Framework was prepared by the County’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency in collaboration with other County departments and agencies, cities and other jurisdictions, nonprofits, and other community stakeholders. “In 2017, a catastrophic wind storm created a...
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Disaster Funds List
Attached you will find a list of participating organizations donating funds to victims from the Northern CA fires. If you or someone you know is seeking assistance, please check out this list.
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Dr. Bruce Perry - Advanced Concepts in Child Trauma & Trauma-Informed Treatment: The Power of Human Connections in Helping Children Heal
Advanced Concepts in Child Trauma & Trauma-Informed Treatment: The Power of Human Connections in Helping Children Heal An inter-disciplinary training for those who work with or are concerned about children $110 (Lunch included) DR. PERRY'S TALK WILL START AT 9A & END AT 3:45P (Lunch provided 12n-12:45p) Parking at the Napa District Auditorium is very limited. Please carpool if possible. (NOTE TO ALUMNI OF THE NAPA IPMH FELLOWSHIP: Please contact Dr. Kristie Brandt directly to...
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‘Thank you’ signs that sprang up after Sonoma County fires turned into a poster (pressdemocrat.com)
When the Jeberg family evacuated their Calistoga Road home on Oct. 8, fleeing the Tubbs fire, they assumed it would be the last time they’d ever see it. A couple days later, they learned their home had been spared. “It was just so hard (for him) to find words,” Michala Jeberg said on behalf of her husband, who was out of the country during the interview. “All he could come up with was, ‘Thank you,’ basically, and the fire crews were all just saying, ‘Well, we’re just doing our jobs.’ They...
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The Board of Supervisors Needs to Hear From You - Please Attend
Please consider attending the February 27 event and sharing your perspective on the needs to support coping and healing from our recent fires as well as existing family and community adversity! Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to Host Recovery Workshops Supervisors seek public input to guide recovery efforts at three upcoming workshops The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors invites community members to attend and provide input to guide post-fire recovery efforts at three upcoming public...
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The Developing Brain & Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Thanks to an explosion in scientific research now possible with imaging technologies, such as fMRI and SPECT, experts can actually see how the brain develops. This helps explain why exposure to adverse childhood experiences can so deeply influence and change a child's brain and thus their physical and emotional health and quality of life across their lifetime. The above time-lapse study was conducted over 10 years. The darker colors represent brain maturity (brain development). I have added...
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The Economics of Child Abuse: A Study of California
While the impact of maltreatment on a child and their family is devastating, child maltreatment also has serious effects far beyond those for the victim. Maltreatment results in ongoing costs to taxpayers, institutions, businesses, and society at large. Local communities bear the brunt of these costs in the form of medical, educational, and judicial costs, though more tragic signs are seen in homelessness, addiction, and teen pregnancy. To create a concrete understanding of the widespread...
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The Forest Fire by Erik Ohlsen free downloadable book
Free downloadable book The Forest of Fire follows the journey of a forest from pristine wild to human developed and the roles and risks of fire in ecology and our lives.
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Trauma-informed groups rev up to address race, inclusion
Eighteen-year-old Kia Hanson has always enjoyed her time as a youth leader at the East Oakland Youth Development Center (EOYDC). She’s worked mostly with five- and six-year-olds since she began in 2016. Recently, she tapped into new skills, especially if the kids were having a meltdown. Kia Hanson “If they’re off, we ask them, ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘Do you want to talk about anything?’,” she explains. “Basically asking before assuming they’re mad at the world for no reason.” What made the...
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Trial by Fire: MARC Sites Collaborate on Trauma-Informed Disaster Response
By @Anndee Hochman During a December 2017 convening in Philadelphia, several leaders from Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) realized they had more in common than a passion for building resilience in their communities. They all hailed from places that had recently been scorched or flooded by natural disasters: wildfires in California and the Columbia River Gorge, hurricanes in Florida, the lingering residue of 2012’s post-tropical cyclone Sandy in the Northeast.
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Trinka and Sam and the Big Fire coloring page for children
A free resource for families affected by the fires. This book is part of the Trinka and Sam series, a free coloring book series which began in 2011 after Hurricane Katrina to help children and families affected by disasters. This series is disseminated via the National Child Traumatic Stress Network For more information on other versions for hurricanes, tornados, and earthquakes check out: Piplo Productions
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Trinka and Sam: The Big Fire, Chandra Gosh Ippen's Latest Book for Children
Earlier this month, Chandra Gosh Ippen came to Sonoma County to present the Ripple Effect training on complex trauma. She shared many wonderful concepts and resources with us including her book "Once I Was Scared." Just two short weeks later, fires ravaged our community, and Dr. Gosh Ippen felt inspired to scribe another story to. This story serves as a tool for parents to talk about the fires with their children. (Parents, be sure to read this on your own to preview the content and make...
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Upstream Invites Community to Recovery and Healing Workshops offered by UC Davis this December & January 2017
Dear Upstream Partner, We hope this message finds you well and safe. There are no words to describe how difficult the last month has been for our community. The resiliency of our residents and the critical support you continue to provide gives us hope for successful recovery efforts. We want to acknowledge all you have done and continue to do to support our community. In addition to personal losses you may have experienced, repeated exposure to the suffering of others takes its toll on the...
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We Need a Healing Movement
What if you had developed a cure for the most painful and costly public health problem in America, you had proven that it worked, and you were offering it for free, but could not reach those who need it most because no one wants to talk about the problem? Tragically, this is my reality and the truth about human nature. It is easier to suffer in silence than acknowledge the painful things that happen to us. Over 20 years ago, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser...
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What Wildfires Do to Our Minds
A Northern California community offers mental health first-aid to survivors of devastating fires. Yes Magazine-- posted Aug 07, 2018 https://www.yesmagazine.org/ issues/mental-health/what- wildfires-do-to-our-minds- 20180807/ It’s late spring, and I’m hiking Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Sonoma County with therapist, ecopsychologist, and California naturalist Mary Good. A mist is drifting down, and we have the park mostly to ourselves. In October 2017, 80 percent of Sugarloaf’s 3,900 acres...
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Sonoma County ACEs Connection Meeting Agenda 3/21/18
Hi everyone, Attached is the agenda for today's meeting. I look forward to seeing you all there!
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Sonoma County ACEs Connection Meeting February 28, 2018
The Sonoma County ACEs Connection has had some exciting meetings the past few months, exploring the many directions our group can and will take in the coming months. Attached you will find a typed up version of our brainstorm sessions from the February, 28, 2018 General Meeting of the Sonoma County ACEs Connection. The topics addressed included: (1) What will the be the group's norms and dedication to safe space look like? (2) What type of resiliency events should our group engage in? (3)...
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Sonoma County ACEs Connection Meeting Minutes 4/25/18
Attached are the meeting minutes for the Sonoma County ACEs Connection General Meeting on 4/25/18.
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Sonoma County ACES Connection Meeting Notes from 11-27-17
Attached you will find the Monthly Meeting Notes from Sonoma County ACEs Connection meeting that took place on 11-27-17.
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Sonoma County Announces New Office of Recovery & Resiliency
Today's Press Democrat featured this promising article: "Sonoma County supervisors Tuesday created a new government office to help the region bounce back from this year’s devastating wildfires and assist with charting a formal vision for the long-term recovery of the local housing supply, the economy and other key areas. The new Office of Recovery and Resiliency will have its own budget and seven staff members, three of whom will come from the ranks of current county employees. Housed within...
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Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Sounds Alarm Over Mental Health...
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7640225-181/board-of-supervisors-sounds-alarm http://first5sonomacounty.org/Resources-for-Parents/Coping-Resources/
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Sonoma County Recovers December E-News Letter
Subscribe to this email December 27, 2017 Official wildfire recovery information from the County of Sonoma and City of Santa Rosa LATEST NEWS Sonoma County Fire Debris Removal Progress Map Now Available A new map indicating the status of fire debris removal for residential properties destroyed in the wildfires is now available online. The map allows property owners to enter their address to view the debris removal status. Read More The two Sonoma County Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) will...
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Sonoma County Resiliency Collaborative A Practical Approach to Post-Wildlife Resilience and Wellbeing
The traumatic events of the North Bay wildfires affect our emotional and physical health, social functioning, and overall well-being, both as individuals and as a community. Unresolved, they can damage our health and limit our potential to rebuild a strong community. Join diverse Sonoma County leaders and representatives to participate in dynamic workshop where you will practice tools for effectively addressing personal and team stress after the fires, network with peers, and learn about an...
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Sonoma County’s parklands are already showing signs of recovery from fire (sonomanews.com)
Nearly every tree species affected by the Tubbs and Nuns fires has a strategy for returning. Some, such as coast live oak, have thick bark and may still be standing with green canopies hanging over blackened understory in places such as Sonoma Valley Regional Park. Trees in this condition will be helped in the years to come because the competition around their bases is gone. If burned, coast live oak have an amazing ability to sprout from the trunk. This can happen as quickly as two months...
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Sonoma’s Hanna Institute awarded $650k grant [SonomaNews.com]
Consultant Robert K. Macy, Hanna Institute Assistant Director Nick Dalton, and Hanna Institute Interim Director Brian Farragher inside Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma, CA. ______________________ After the October fires, the Community Foundation of Sonoma County co-sponsored a survey of local nonprofit organizations to gauge the effect that the disaster had on the people they serve and their organizational capacity to provide services in response. Throughout the “2018 Wildfire Response Survey,”...
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SonomaCountyRecovers: Official recovery information for Sonoma County fires
When we experience a disaster, people react with increased anxiety, worry and anger. With community and family support, most of us bounce back. Some of us, however, may need extra assistance to cope with unfolding events and uncertainties. Everyone, even the people that others look up to for guidance and assistance, is entitled to their feelings and deserves support throughout the recovery process. If you or someone in your care needs additional assistance recovering emotionally from the...
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Students with no schools. Teachers with no homes. Will Sonoma schools ‘get back to normal’? [sacbee.com]
SANTA ROSA - Teacher Linda Severs lost her school but not her house. Parent Matt Todhunter lost his home but not the school his children attended. And Debra Sanders, who has spent the last six years providing school services for homeless families, suddenly found her own family in that same classification. Northern California’s Oct. 8 wildfires were among the most destructive in U.S. history, and in Sonoma County, they uprooted an entire school system. As the fires raged, nearly all of the...
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Supporting Parents & Children after a Disaster: A Training for Providers on 3/2/18
The recent fires have had a profound and lasting impact on the entire Sonoma County community, including its youngest residents. Parents and providers may be unsure about how to best respond to questions, emotions, and behavior following the fires. Please join us for a presentation and discussion for providers on how we can best support parents and their children. The training will cover: How to manage children’s emotions and behavior after a fire. Answering children’s questions. Why some...
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Who Helps Our Helpers? "Portraits of Professional Caregivers" Documents in Film Their Passion and Pain.
Director and producer Vic Compher’s documentary film, Portraits of Professional Caregivers: Their Passion. Their Pain , takes a deeper look at the causes of and treatments for what’s called secondary traumatic stress, a condition commonly...
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Wildfire Mental Health Collaborative Update & May 22 Service Mapping Session
Debbie Mason of Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County writes: I wanted to give you an quick update on The Wildfire Mental Health Collaborative and ask for your help in getting the word out about a convening of wildfire survivor mental health services providers – and mapping of services. Please share the info! The Wildfire Mental Health Collaborative is now rolling out several of the planned strategies available to nonprofits, mental health professionals and survivors to use in serving...
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Wildfire Mental Health Services Collaborative Invites You to RSVP to August 2, 2018 Meeting
Dear Colleagues, Summer is flying by and we want to honor our commitment made to you at the May wildfire mental health services mapping session by reconvening our group for an update on August 2 from 9:00 to 11:00 am. The location for our meeting is Medtronic, 3850 Brickway Blvd, Santa Rosa, CA, 95403. There are no special parking instructions. Enter through the main entrance and check with the receptionist. There will be signs to direct you to our meeting room. Because this is a secure...
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Yes! Magazine article related to impact of wildfires
https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/mental-health/what-wildfires-do-to-our-minds-20180807
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Re: Post-wildfire report on nonprofit services: mental health a critical need, services to most vulnerable citizens impacted
Thanks Lena! This data is surprising and sad (to me) in that it appears that the most vulnerable populations had the greatest negative impact in terms of receiving services during the post-fire period. Karen
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Re: Peer Voices Now! Spring 2018 Newsletter
Thank you for sharing! Powerful messages within this newsletter - including "Among ongoing major and minor epiphanies, here’s what I have learned from the fire: A home is a universal need and our compassion also needs to be universal, with no one left out." "Post-trauma reactions are there for a reason, and the reason is healing. Your world HAS changed. Your center has been rocked. You and your body have to assimilate the changes and find a new balance in order to continue to live. Make no...
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Re: ‘None of us will ever be the same’: Survivors of 2017 Tubbs Fire face long-term trauma [Sacramento Bee]
Thank you Karen, Most people don’t understand this kind of PTSD. My sister lost her home in Journey’s End and everything she owned. She got out out with her life and two of her three cats. Poor little “Betty” died in the fire. My sister now lives in Minnesota. There was a fire (actually many over the last few weeks) in a wooded area here in Lake County, where 67% of our county has burned. When some people, new to the area, were told to pack a bag and get out they scoffed at the suggestion...
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Re: Community After Disaster, a Therapist’s Musings
Dear Jenni, Thank you for writing this beautiful piece. For my part, I am committing to strengthening my connections to this community. On Wednesday night, I am joining my friend Isabel in putting together a community altar for survivors. The next night, my family and I will return to the Roseland Library for the official el Dia De Los Muertos celebration. We'll try to find our seasonal rhythm through honoring this tradition, while showing our respect for both important cultural celebrations...
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Friendly Reminder: our July meeting is Weds 7/22 at 3:30!
Please join our July Zoom meeting - all are welcome! If you prefer, there is a call in option too. ZOOM LINK or see calendar for more details. So much is happening across the county (and beyond) so maybe we can put our heads together and find ways to support this important work! See below for the draft agenda and the attached references: 1 OCAP released their strategic plan 2020-2025 2 MCH released a report on how health inequities emerge before birth 3 EfC just released Trauma Informed...
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Community Gatherings Offer Healing for Emotional Wounds After Disasters [publicintegrity.org]
By Megan Cattel, The Center for Public Integrity, August 25, 2020 After the Tubbs Fire in 2017, Anabel Garcia felt on edge every time an ambulance siren blared outside her home in Santa Rosa, California. Sirens reminded her of evacuating during the state’s second-deadliest wildfire , which killed 22 and destroyed 5,000 homes. Flames reached as close as five miles from her family’s house. “It terrified us,” Garcia said in Spanish. “But it was scarier having to go through it all a second...
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Sonoma County passes layoff-free annual budget (Sonoma Sun)
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $1.9 billion budget for 2020-21 it says avoids layoffs while making investments in critical areas such as fire recovery, permanent supportive housing, COVID-19 response, and mental health and homeless services. The Board was faced with a projected $45.7 million revenue shortfall because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn. As a result, the recommended budget suggested the reduction of more than 100 positions,...
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Mary Ann Parker of Sonoma County sews 34 quilts during shelter-in-place and then donates them to fire survivors in Mendocino County
MendoLake Complex Fire Relief - Facebook group, 9.23.2020. Mary Ann Parker of Sonoma County sews 34 quilts during shelter-in-place and then donates them to fire survivors in Mendocino County. She says, "They are organized into bags, one for boys, one for girls, one for women and one for men." She also made and donated quilts during the 2019 Kincade Fire of Sonoma County, giving students who lost their home two new quilts each. Thank you Mary Ann Parker you are one of the pieces to the big...
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Resource: First Responder Support Network (FRSN)
OUR GOAL Our goal is to help the first responder and retirees regain control over their lives and either return to work with a new perspective on stress and coping, move on with their lives if that is a more appropriate decision, or simply enjoy retirement. The mission of the First Responder Support Network (FRSN) is to provide educational treatment programs to promote recovery from stress and critical incidents experienced by first responders and their families. Our goal is to provide first...
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Even when the smoke clears, schools find student trauma can linger (Lake County Record Bee)
By Carolyn Jones, September 29, 2020, Lake County Record Bee. Schools can serve as a hub for an entire community after a disaster, experts say For some students, the fire is only the beginning. The nightmares, the grief and an all-consuming dread can persist for months or even years. That’s what teachers and school employees have observed among students in California’s fire-ravaged areas, especially Sonoma and Butte counties, where deadly wildfires have struck repeatedly in recent years.
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Sonoma County field nurses use ACEs science to educate families
Santa Rosa, CA, resident Lisa Marden watches her 15-month-old baby gleefully play with magic markers and relays how she’s been coping with feeling anxious. (We're using a pseudonym to protect the family's privacy.) “I’m just super stressed out with everything, and as soon as I eat anything, I get nauseous, so I’ve been eating snacks instead of meals,” she explains to Liz George, a field nurse with the Maternal/Child Field Nursing team of Sonoma County, CA, who has been seeing Marden on home...
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What’s with the pink flamingos in front of the fire station? (SonomaWest)
By Laura Hagar Rush, Townsy, February 24, 2021, Sonoma West. Sebastopudlians driving down Bodega Avenue Wednesday morning saw an unusual sight in front of the Sebastopol Fire Department: a flock of flamingos. Pink, plastic flamingos to be exact — some with hand-knitted scarves, some painted, some beribboned and one with a pink feather boa and pink flamingo glasses. [ Please click here to read more ]
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Introduction, Santa Rosa Forward Website, and Survey/ Presentación, Sitio Web y Encuesta de Santa Rosa Forward [srcity.org]
Dear community members, schools, and organizations , My name is Beatriz Guerrero Auna and I am an Equity and Public Health Planner in the City of Santa Rosa. I am part of the team that is working on updating the General Plan. This process will develop a community’s long-term vision for the city and will sets goals and policies that will shape housing, transportation, business, industry, open space, schools, and health, among many others, reflecting community preferences. My work is...