Malibu is our home, our community, our family. The Woolsey fire devastated Malibu, leaving our community in ash, hundreds without a home and many who lost everything. We wanted to help, so we partnered with the Malibu Foundation and provided more than 1650 free individual therapy sessions to those who lost their home in the Woolsey Fire, as well as trauma-informed therapy groups.
What we've done for Malibu
It has been our honor to provide more than 165 people with 10 free sessions of trauma-informed counseling with licensed therapists to help recover from the Woolsey Fire. How were we able to do this? We received $200,000 from the Malibu Foundation, $25,000 worth of office space from the Lumberyard shopping center and $4500 worth of office space from Regus. The remaining $270,500 is a donation from Roots & Wings therapists and staff of working without pay and working at a sliding scale fee. Why? We care. We worked hard for our degrees and licenses but we are not in this for the money. We hope to make a difference and are dedicated to making this world a better place. Learn about our therapists who devoted themselves. Malibu, thank you for the opportunity to be of service.
“I’m truly appreciative and grateful for this high quality of supportive care that I was offered after this difficult time in my life. The loss my family and I experienced was very disorienting, overwhelming and life changing. My therapist, through Roots and Wings, guided me with gentle care and concern through the phases of loss, grief... back to a place of feeling safe, supportive and hopeful. I would seek out this mode of treatment again, and recommend Roots & Wings and Marina strongly for others.”
“ I presented with a broken wing and found Elizabeth [Roots & Wings therapist] to lean on. She is a miracle of insight, connection and brilliant diagnostic perception. I have been carrying a thought from early childhood which I never understood. Enter EMDR and this thought transformed into a totally understandable wish.... I have learned much about myself and who I am. I have words and people with me to take on this challenge and I feel strong. I can say ‘I am surrounded by loving kindness, I am well, I am peaceful and at ease, I am happy’ whenever I feel a little shaky. Caring for others makes me happy and with Elizabeth's help I am experiencing the other side and also caring for myself. I have
always tried to notice the "little miracles" in my life and every session was just that. Thank you, Elizabeth; Thank you, Roots and Wings; Thank you, Malibu Foundation! I really needed this help.”
Click on the file to see our Research paper on the work we did to help heal Malibu:
What we've done for Malibu
It has been our honor to provide more than 165 people with 10 free sessions of trauma-informed counseling with licensed therapists to help recover from the Woolsey Fire. How were we able to do this? We received $200,000 from the Malibu Foundation, $25,000 worth of office space from the Lumberyard shopping center and $4500 worth of office space from Regus. The remaining $270,500 is a donation from Roots & Wings therapists and staff of working without pay and working at a sliding scale fee. Why? We care. We worked hard for our degrees and licenses but we are not in this for the money. We hope to make a difference and are dedicated to making this world a better place. Learn about our therapists who devoted themselves. Malibu, thank you for the opportunity to be of service.
“I’m truly appreciative and grateful for this high quality of supportive care that I was offered after this difficult time in my life. The loss my family and I experienced was very disorienting, overwhelming and life changing. My therapist, through Roots and Wings, guided me with gentle care and concern through the phases of loss, grief... back to a place of feeling safe, supportive and hopeful. I would seek out this mode of treatment again, and recommend Roots & Wings and Marina strongly for others.”
“ I presented with a broken wing and found Elizabeth [Roots & Wings therapist] to lean on. She is a miracle of insight, connection and brilliant diagnostic perception. I have been carrying a thought from early childhood which I never understood. Enter EMDR and this thought transformed into a totally understandable wish.... I have learned much about myself and who I am. I have words and people with me to take on this challenge and I feel strong. I can say ‘I am surrounded by loving kindness, I am well, I am peaceful and at ease, I am happy’ whenever I feel a little shaky. Caring for others makes me happy and with Elizabeth's help I am experiencing the other side and also caring for myself. I have
always tried to notice the "little miracles" in my life and every session was just that. Thank you, Elizabeth; Thank you, Roots and Wings; Thank you, Malibu Foundation! I really needed this help.”
Click on the file to see our Research paper on the work we did to help heal Malibu:
| malibu_foundation_white_paper_on_emotional_healing_post-fire.pdf |
Healing after Fire Trauma
By Jennifer Johnston-Jones, Ph.D. of Roots and Wings Institute
Many of us in the Malibu and surrounding areas woke up this morning (very close to the year anniversary of the Woolsey fire) with smoke in our lungs and ash on our patio--again. Many more couldn’t sleep last night. Many who experienced the Woolsey fire in 2018 were automatically woken as their subconscious smelled smoke while they were asleep and told them to wake the heck up and get to a safe place.
While I didn’t lose my home, like many of my friends and neighbors did, I can’t help but feel a slight somatic humming as my primitive brain is telling me that things aren’t safe. I’m taking my family to another town, hopefully smoke free, and leaving the smoke today. I know it’s probably safe to stay, but it doesn’t feel safe. For those who lost their homes in the Woolsey fire, I can only imagine the neurological processes that are happening...the cortisol flooding through the brain telling us, no matter what we read about being “safe,” that we aren’t.
It’s also natural for people to have anniversary trauma. We are likely to re-experience the stress of the Woolsey fire which began on November 8th, 2018 around the same time, if not a little before. As a non-profit organization, we worked with hundreds of people who lost their homes in the Woolsey fire. Thanks to The Malibu Foundation, we were able to provide more than 165 people with 10 free sessions of trauma-informed counseling with licensed therapists to help recover from the Woolsey Fire as well as group therapy sessions focused on trauma resiliency. We know people are suffering, yet again. Just when we are innately triggered near the anniversary of this tragedy, as our system asks, “is it safe?” we wake to smoke.
So then the question becomes, what to do about this uneasy feeling? How can those who lost their homes in the fire prevent themselves from re-experiencing the overwhelm and loss that they felt this time last year? The nightmares, the prior traumas and stresses that were brought up, the sleep disturbance, the flashbacks...all classic signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Bessel Van der Kolk, considered the world expert on trauma, explains that healing from trauma involves four steps, summarized here:
Neuroimaging research shows us that humans experiencing intense anger, fear or sadness have reduced activity in the frontal lobe, in particular the medial prefrontal cortex, which means they respond intensely as if they were unsafe in ordinary situations. A noise may startle, a touch may feel abrasive, or they may “check out” and freeze. You can change this threat detection system either through the reptilian brain using touch, movement and breathing or through the medial prefrontal cortex by modulating messages.
Healing trauma requires “being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone’s mind and heart. It requires feeling comfortable with feeling what you feel, to know what you know without questioning and to feel full ownership of your mind and body.” In the past, mental health practitioners would understand healing of trauma through a lens of needing to release the feelings and would attempt to do so with talk therapy, or retelling the story. Now we understand that when trauma occurs, the memory can also become locked in the body. Unfortunately, recalling the memory and understanding why you feel strongly about it often does not heal the trauma.
Neuroscience research shows us that the healing occurs when we interface with the emotional brain. Opening the past may retraumatize you further if you are not managing your emotions in the present. Therefore, to begin in the healing of trauma requires starting with learning to regulate your emotions in the present. Also, because traumatic memories are highly somatic (recalled in the body as much as the mind) mind-body therapies can be highly effective.
What are the symptoms of trauma? How do you know if you were traumatized by the fire? One of the primary symptoms of trauma is dissociation. Dissociation is when your mind takes you to another place in order to find safety. It can be as simple as “spacing out” or having a hard time being present. Dissociation can also feel like not being fully alive, as if you are a bit numb. Dissociation leaves people not being able to fully take in what is happening in the present and leaves them not feeling fully alive.
If you began to dissociate as a child, you may not remember what it was like to feel fully alive. With the habit of dissociation you are angry less, but also you laugh less, and experience less joy. In essence, you are numb. Sometimes feeling numb may make you feel ashamed or guilty, like when you are informed of the death of someone and don’t quite feel sad, or when you experience numbness at a birthday party or other celebratory event. Because you don’t often feel truly alive, some brains respond by sending you back to where you did feel alive, to the traumatic situation, as in flashbacks or other times that you can recall feeling angry. I believe people who anger easily and often are simply responding to their somatic urge to feel alive due to unhealed trauma.
The response to trauma that is based in flashbacks is often worse than the original trauma, as the feelings may come unexpectedly. You may feel afraid or tense and can’t explain why. You may be easily angered or agitated. On the other hand, some people just blank out and dissociate. When you look at the brain in this state under a brain scan, almost every area of the brain shows decreased activation.
So, how can you help the fire trauma not to resurface?
Here are some research-based ways to start:
But here’s the real take home: fires create renewal, regrowth and healing...not only in nature, but also in us. Because of the Woolsey fire, we are closer to each other, we were faced with having to heal any trauma, and we aren’t afraid to love and care for each other. Let this also be a way to heal, as a community.
Many of us in the Malibu and surrounding areas woke up this morning (very close to the year anniversary of the Woolsey fire) with smoke in our lungs and ash on our patio--again. Many more couldn’t sleep last night. Many who experienced the Woolsey fire in 2018 were automatically woken as their subconscious smelled smoke while they were asleep and told them to wake the heck up and get to a safe place.
While I didn’t lose my home, like many of my friends and neighbors did, I can’t help but feel a slight somatic humming as my primitive brain is telling me that things aren’t safe. I’m taking my family to another town, hopefully smoke free, and leaving the smoke today. I know it’s probably safe to stay, but it doesn’t feel safe. For those who lost their homes in the Woolsey fire, I can only imagine the neurological processes that are happening...the cortisol flooding through the brain telling us, no matter what we read about being “safe,” that we aren’t.
It’s also natural for people to have anniversary trauma. We are likely to re-experience the stress of the Woolsey fire which began on November 8th, 2018 around the same time, if not a little before. As a non-profit organization, we worked with hundreds of people who lost their homes in the Woolsey fire. Thanks to The Malibu Foundation, we were able to provide more than 165 people with 10 free sessions of trauma-informed counseling with licensed therapists to help recover from the Woolsey Fire as well as group therapy sessions focused on trauma resiliency. We know people are suffering, yet again. Just when we are innately triggered near the anniversary of this tragedy, as our system asks, “is it safe?” we wake to smoke.
So then the question becomes, what to do about this uneasy feeling? How can those who lost their homes in the fire prevent themselves from re-experiencing the overwhelm and loss that they felt this time last year? The nightmares, the prior traumas and stresses that were brought up, the sleep disturbance, the flashbacks...all classic signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Bessel Van der Kolk, considered the world expert on trauma, explains that healing from trauma involves four steps, summarized here:
- Learning to become calm and focused.
- Learning to maintain that calm and focus.
- Learning to be fully alive and engaged.
- Not having to keep secrets from yourself, including about how you survived.
Neuroimaging research shows us that humans experiencing intense anger, fear or sadness have reduced activity in the frontal lobe, in particular the medial prefrontal cortex, which means they respond intensely as if they were unsafe in ordinary situations. A noise may startle, a touch may feel abrasive, or they may “check out” and freeze. You can change this threat detection system either through the reptilian brain using touch, movement and breathing or through the medial prefrontal cortex by modulating messages.
Healing trauma requires “being truly heard and seen by the people around us, feeling that we are held in someone’s mind and heart. It requires feeling comfortable with feeling what you feel, to know what you know without questioning and to feel full ownership of your mind and body.” In the past, mental health practitioners would understand healing of trauma through a lens of needing to release the feelings and would attempt to do so with talk therapy, or retelling the story. Now we understand that when trauma occurs, the memory can also become locked in the body. Unfortunately, recalling the memory and understanding why you feel strongly about it often does not heal the trauma.
Neuroscience research shows us that the healing occurs when we interface with the emotional brain. Opening the past may retraumatize you further if you are not managing your emotions in the present. Therefore, to begin in the healing of trauma requires starting with learning to regulate your emotions in the present. Also, because traumatic memories are highly somatic (recalled in the body as much as the mind) mind-body therapies can be highly effective.
What are the symptoms of trauma? How do you know if you were traumatized by the fire? One of the primary symptoms of trauma is dissociation. Dissociation is when your mind takes you to another place in order to find safety. It can be as simple as “spacing out” or having a hard time being present. Dissociation can also feel like not being fully alive, as if you are a bit numb. Dissociation leaves people not being able to fully take in what is happening in the present and leaves them not feeling fully alive.
If you began to dissociate as a child, you may not remember what it was like to feel fully alive. With the habit of dissociation you are angry less, but also you laugh less, and experience less joy. In essence, you are numb. Sometimes feeling numb may make you feel ashamed or guilty, like when you are informed of the death of someone and don’t quite feel sad, or when you experience numbness at a birthday party or other celebratory event. Because you don’t often feel truly alive, some brains respond by sending you back to where you did feel alive, to the traumatic situation, as in flashbacks or other times that you can recall feeling angry. I believe people who anger easily and often are simply responding to their somatic urge to feel alive due to unhealed trauma.
The response to trauma that is based in flashbacks is often worse than the original trauma, as the feelings may come unexpectedly. You may feel afraid or tense and can’t explain why. You may be easily angered or agitated. On the other hand, some people just blank out and dissociate. When you look at the brain in this state under a brain scan, almost every area of the brain shows decreased activation.
So, how can you help the fire trauma not to resurface?
Here are some research-based ways to start:
- EMDR: short for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. In my clinical experience, I have not seen anything as effective as EMDR. It has been extensively researched and considered the gold standard treatment for trauma. The Malibu Foundation awarded us a grant to provide this highly specialized therapy with licensed therapist to those who lost their homes from the Woolsey fire. It should not be done virtually, but in person with a licensed clinician. I’ve seen dramatic changes and healing after only a few sessions and find also that the client leaves feeling empowered instead of overwhelmed. EMDR healing is believed to be similar to what the body does naturally during rapid eye movement sleep when a person processes stress. At Roots & Wings, we still have EMDR therapists, though the grant money is no longer available for free sessions, our therapists are available. (https://www.rootsnwings.org/for-malibu.html)
- Neurofeedback: this is the training of the brain function by using painless brain wave sensors to observe the brain while the person is performing a task, usually on a screen, such as a video game. The brain gets rewarded on the game when it moves to more appropriate patterns. In addition to trauma, I’ve also seen it work very well with inattention and anxiety. (https://www.rootsnwings.org/neurofeedback.html
- Yoga: by regulating the body, you regulate the mind. A regular practice of yoga has been shown to help heal trauma. Other forms of body movement that are likely also effective include martial arts, Brazilian capoeira, and certain kinds of dancing. However, there hasn’t been enough research to call these other modalities effective yet. Ted at 5 Point Yoga (http://5pointyoga.com/) worked with us to provide many free yoga classes and we recommend his teachers.
- Mindfulness: the research on mindfulness practices to help with self-regulation is immense. When someone is traumatized, they become disconnected from their body sensations and thoughts. Mindfulness helps bring us in touch with our inner world. It helps us practice self-regulation so we are less likely to go into fight, flight or freeze states. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to help in depression and chronic pain, as well as decreasing cortisol levels, blood pressure and helping the immune system.
But here’s the real take home: fires create renewal, regrowth and healing...not only in nature, but also in us. Because of the Woolsey fire, we are closer to each other, we were faced with having to heal any trauma, and we aren’t afraid to love and care for each other. Let this also be a way to heal, as a community.