When L.A. Wildfires Broke Out, CHLA’s Behavioral Health Team Rushed In

When the Los Angeles wildfires erupted on Jan. 7, much of the world’s attention focused on firefighters’ efforts to contain the devastating blazes. But at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, a team was quickly mobilizing to respond to a different aspect of the disaster: the emotional and psychological fallout.

“We immediately jumped into action,” says Anya Griffin, PhD, Director of Psychology and Co-Director of the Behavioral Health Institute at CHLA. “In the kind of crisis we were facing, we needed all hands on deck. I’m proud of how our team pulled together, even as some were facing evacuation and their own challenges with the fires.”

The Behavioral Health team was closely integrated into the hospital’s overall disaster response efforts, along with other mental health resources, such as CHLA’s Office of Well-Being and Emotional Support Services programs.

“One of the keys to our rapid response was that we all went into this with an orientation toward partnering—across the hospital and the community,” explains Karen Rogers, PhD, a clinical psychologist at CHLA.

Here are just a few of the ways that the Behavioral Health Institute supported patients, families, faculty, staff, schools, and the community both during and after the fires—some of the most destructive in California history—and why their work is still ongoing.

Warm line for patients and staff

One of the team’s first actions was to set up a confidential, nonemergency wildfire support phone line for patients and families. This “warm line” was established within 48 hours of the fires’ start—and was quickly expanded to faculty and staff.

While CHLA’s Social Work team dealt more directly with families who lost their homes, the warm line provided emotional support, guidance, and a listening ear to those experiencing stress, anxiety, or other challenges due to the fires.

Key to its success: a group of 33 CHLA behavioral health experts from Psychology, Psychiatry, and Social Work who volunteered to staff the line.

“Many families who called were relieved that they could talk to someone, even if their needs were simple,” Dr. Griffin says. “Just knowing this resource was available was a big support.”

Psychological first aid training

Just a week into the crisis, the Behavioral Health team had established another key resource: a psychological first aid training for all interested faculty and staff. The one-hour training provided attendees with continuing medical education (CME) credits as well.

More than 700 people signed up for CME credits, but the virtual course was also available to all CHLA faculty and staff, both live and as a recording.

“Psychological first aid focuses on skills that can provide immediate support to someone in the midst of a crisis,” Dr. Rogers explains. “Like medical first aid, it’s for everyone. You don’t have to be a behavioral health professional.”

Although such trainings are usually four to five hours long, experts led by Dr. Rogers, Marc Perkel, PsyD, and Micah Orliss, PhD, condensed it into a one-hour course that would allow more staff to participate. The team also promoted the availability of the recording in every hospital-wide email sent out about the crisis.

The team received a flood of positive feedback about the training, with some nurse leaders reporting that their entire unit had participated.

Helping schools support their students

The January fires damaged at least a dozen schools across the Los Angeles area, including at least five that were destroyed. To help school leaders navigate this difficult time, the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at CHLA has stepped in to partner with three area school districts, along with several private schools, that were impacted.

The team provides staff training, technical assistance, and community presentations, as well as ongoing support in the immediate aftermath of a crisis and throughout the long-term recovery period.

“Our approach is to train and support school and organization leaders so that they in turn are empowered to help their students and staff,” explains Dr. Rogers, who is part of the Center team. “We also emphasize professional self-care because these events can be extremely difficult for staff as well as students.”

Much of the group’s work in the wake of the L.A. fires has revolved around grief, says David Schonfeld, MD, FAAP, the Center’s Director and a developmental-behavioral pediatrician. It’s a pattern the Center has seen throughout its 30-year history of supporting schools through wildfires, tornados, hurricanes, and more.

“With natural disasters, people assume that it’s about the trauma of escaping the fire, or grief from death. And there’s some of that,” Dr. Schonfeld says. “But people also lose homes and other buildings they may associate with good times. They lose community; they lose a sense of safety. There’s a compounding of loss and crisis that occurs.”

That sense of loss can linger and even intensify months after the event. Logistical issues—it takes years to rebuild a school—take a toll on families, teachers, and principals. That’s why the team works with schools on a long-term basis.

“What happens in disasters is there’s an appearance of recovery before recovery occurs,” he says. “People start to think, ‘Everyone else is OK, but I’m not.’ That’s why ongoing support is so important. The fires may have ended, but our work is far from over.”