The California wildfires devastated communities across the state earlier this year, leaving behind not only physical destruction but also deep emotional scars. In response, Didi Hirsch is working to meet both the immediate and long-term mental health needs of those impacted. Thanks to the generous support of proactive donors and funding partners, we have been able to respond quickly with compassionate care.
Since January 15, 2025, our crisis care staff, clinicians, and volunteers have supported nearly 3,700 people through our fire recovery services. These services include free trauma-informed therapy, virtual drop-in sessions for first responders, on-site crisis response at disaster relief centers, training for service providers, and support through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Behind each number is a person. One of them is a client who found their way to us through a Disaster Recovery Center—and their story reminds us why this work matters.
In the chaotic aftermath of these devastating wildfires, families who have been impacted have been left scattered, disoriented, and emotionally raw. Our team of trained crisis counselors has been on the ground in Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) providing psychological first aid, trauma-informed emotional support, and longer-term mental health recovery resources to those whose lives had been turned inside out.
Many of the stories our counselors hear begin with people describing how they left their homes in the middle of the night, often with nothing but the clothes on their backs. At one of the DRCs (serving the Altadena community) where we collaborate closely with other partner agencies–a volunteer from a neighboring legal aid approached us with a young woman who was visibly distressed.
She and her husband had narrowly escaped the flames. The power had gone out in the middle of the night, and they had to flee their home in darkness and panic. In the midst of driving away, they turned back after receiving a phone call from a neighbor—and they banded together with their neighbors to try and fight the fire.
Their home was ultimately spared but not untouched. In the process of defending it, their car was broken into. Her husband’s bag—holding his ID, wallet, and essential medications—was stolen. In the aftermath, they faced not only damaged property and compromised identities but also a sense of safety that had completely unraveled.
Now living in a single hotel room, with their means of making a living devastated by the loss of vital work equipment in the fires, the emotional toll and mounting pressure became overwhelming.
They had lost more than their belongings—they had lost stability, dignity, and space to process.
When she sat with us, we didn’t rush to solutions. We listened. Compassionate listening—offering her time, space, and safety to share her story, piece by piece.
She opened up about the many layers of grief she was carrying—not just from the fire, but from a recent painful loss she and her husband had experienced not long before. We validated her pain. We told her that what she was feeling wasn’t just understandable—it was human. She wasn’t broken. She was exhausted, grieving, and doing her best in such difficult circumstances.
By the end of our time together, something had shifted. She told us about a recent career accomplishment and we talked about other things they were looking forward to, including the hope that she and her husband could come to Didi Hirsch for the free counseling sessions that we’re offering.
What we find is that in the stories people tell us, there’s always more. People are not just there in emotional crisis because they’ve lost only their home. There tend to be other compounding issues as well and when you go through a fire like that, you are at your most vulnerable.
At Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, we have been honored to sit with thousands of people, so far, who are at their most vulnerable, and we look forward to continuing to deliver mental health recovery services to more victims and people impacted by the trauma of this disaster in the coming months.
