Suzanne Potter, producer/reporter, California News Service, a bureau of Public News Service.
Mental health groups are stepping up to help victims of the Los Angeles area wildfires deal with the extreme stress brought on by the disaster.
The California Parent and Youth Helpline is beginning to work at evacuation centers and is looking to partner with community or government entities to provide victims with emotional support.
Lisa Pion-Berlin, president and CEO of Parents Anonymous, which runs the helpline, said people can call, text, or live chat with a trained counselor.
“That emotional support really needs to be handled by an experienced professional, who’s trained to listen and to help people deal with the immediate angst and depression,” Pion-Berlin asserted. “Because they don’t know where to turn.”
The helpline is open 12 hours a day at 877-427-2736 to guide people through the chaos, desperation, and fear. The group’s website, caparentyouthhelpline.org, will also connect people to ongoing online support groups.
Pion-Berlin pointed out Parents Anonymous would like to expand if fire relief funding becomes available. However, the service may be in jeopardy, because Gov. Gavin Newsom left the helpline out of his January budget proposal.
Now, with entire neighborhoods wiped out, she said the need for mental health assistance is greater than ever.
“Because they no longer have their community. They never don’t have their school, they don’t have the safe place they lived in,” Pion-Berlin outlined. “They’re displaced, and the impact is devastating.”
Parents Anonymous is asking lawmakers to continue to support the helpline as they negotiate the final budget this spring. The California Parent and Youth Helpline received a two-year appropriation of $4.7 million in the 2023 budget. If it is not renewed, the funding will run out this summer.
