Massive mental health toll in Maui wildfires, they’ve lost everything
The Miami Mayor’s Rejoinder in the Case for a Safer Future. No One Left in the Burn Zone of Lahaina
The most accurate list of missing people will be released this week. According to Bissen, the 850 figure comes from the FBI, which compiled cases that were reported to the American Red Cross, the FBI’s office in Honolulu, the Maui Police Department and emergency management agencies.
Parents, siblings, and children of people whose whereabouts are still unknown are being asked to give DNA samples to help identification efforts. People on Maui can go to a family assistance center, but they cannot give a sample to relatives who live in other islands or the continental U.S.
“We were both sad and relieved that there were no deaths in the fires,” Bissen said, reflecting the mixed emotions faced by families waiting to learn if their loved ones made it.
Bissen said that the question about the fate of people who have not been found is based on where they might have sought shelter in a community where many residents have opened their doors to survivors. The mayor said there’s no one left in the burn zone of Lahaina. But, he added, people might have found a place to stay who haven’t yet reached out to report themselves as safe.
According to Bissen, the latest numbers will likely change as recovery and identification work continues. He is planning to take questions from the media and the Maui community on Tuesday.
“Our lives have changed forever and things will not be the same,” Bissen said. As we grieve and go through this together, we will care for each other in the same way.
The worst mental health disaster in our modern history: John Oliver’s mom and sister in Maui, California, on the LAHAINA bus
But the scale of the inner damage can be seen in the 5-year-old girl that Maui’s chief mental health administrator John Oliver saw the other day. The girl came with her mother into the Lahaina community health clinic, next to the main burn zone, clutching a green and purple plushy stuffed animal. She was afraid and withdrawn.
“I got down to her level and I asked her name and how she was doing, asked about her stuffed animal. And she just offered up that ‘I’m sad.’ I asked why you were sad. And she said ‘I’m sad because I saw a lot of dead bodies.'”
Soon the psychiatrist came in and the mom told Oliver that when her daughter says she misses her friend, it’s her best friend. And she died in the wildfire.
Survivors are still dealing with physical challenges like where they’ll be living in the coming weeks and months. As the need for mental health support is growing, the size of the emotional and psychological toll here is coming into sharper focus. Mental health administrator Oliver calls it “the worst mental health disaster in our state’s modern history.”
They’ve lost family and pets. They’ve lost everything,” says south Maui clinical social worker Debbie Scott. She says for some who had to flee the flames, the initial shock is now giving way to wrenching anxiety, nightmares, anxiety, depression and sometimes anger, as the depth of the trauma settles in.
Scott, a social worker says “We are destroyed” in the air. “We’re not going to have all the answers right now.” She paused her private practice to help counsel the displaced at a community center in South Maui that’s been turned into a temporary shelter. “We’re coping.”
Evacuees at the south Maui shelter where Scott is working this week were offered the chance to move from shelter cots to much nicer accommodations in hotel rooms or Airbnb apartments. But several people did not want to go, Scott says, including an older man who felt safer in the shelter. Both of his hands were fully bandaged from serious burns. Scott went over and sat with him.
I called him and told him to listen to me and see what I could do to make sure he felt safe on that bus.
“It took some work but I did get him on that bus. And he was thankful to have his bags and he sure was thankful to have his flip flops. He was in need of his slippers.
Mental Health in the Wild: “They’ve Lost Everything” — Stu Coulson, the American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Manager, and Maui’s Oliver Oliver
“If you break it down to one word we are trying to give people hope,” says 17-year veteran American Red Cross disaster mental health manager Stu Coulson. “Right now it’s all about active listening, empathy and trying to connect people with services.”
The Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., which was the single deadliest wildfire in modern history, was one of the ways that Coulson helped survivors navigate mental health needs. The volunteer from Iowa became involved in the disaster as it became apparent. “It’s the most devastating trauma that I’ve experienced and the clients I’m working with have experienced that too,” he says.
Maui’s behavioral health administrator Oliver says state and federal officials are trying to get more mental health clinicians to help the already present 65 clinicians. To make that easier, Hawaii’s governor issued an emergency order temporarily waiving the state-licensing requirement for counseling.
She says that anything is possible, whether it is breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, meditative practices, or just sitting and stretching.
Source: Massive mental health toll in Maui wildfires: ‘They’ve lost everything’
What Has Happened to Vance and Why Does She Live in a Los Alameda Condo?” A Counselor’s Perspective
“This is my handsome boy and his name is Rio. “I say he is smart, smart and stubborn, he is my best friend, he is nine years old,” she says. The home in Lahaina that belonged to Vance was destroyed in the fire. She and Rio are now volunteering at shelters and counseling Maui hotel employees affected by the fire.
“I’ve taken him to my sessions and people just love him. She says it gives a nice entrance into the conversations that will need to be had because we get talking about the dog and what happened to you.
Counselors who have had to flee and lose their homes, who counsels them? Both she and Rio are tired. Fire survivors will be dealing with their wounds for a very long time, that’s according to Vance and other mental health professionals.
“Rio got back into the car and said to my mother ‘I just want to go home’ after I ran out of the house with one of my dresses.” Will we go home now? I was so sad when I looked at him, but I told him that we do not have a home anymore. But we’ll make the best of what we’ve got.'”
