DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR CHILDREN IN THE LAGUNA BEACH FIRESTORM

Presenter:  Merritt Schreiber, Ph.D.


   ABSTRACT
   On October 30, 1993, a firestorm struck the city of Laguna Beach, California.
   As the fire engulfed the city, every child in the Laguna Beach School District
   was evacuated in massive gridlock as flames and embers approached. Four hundred
   homes were lost. The County of Orange Health Care Agency/Children and Youth
   Services division provided FEMA supported mental health services to 2.300 
   children and parents at the evacuation site, evacuation shelters and continuously
   for seventeen months postdisaster at each school in a school based intervention
   model. There were 11,000 visits during the program. Efforts to accommodate 
   diversity included collaboration with school staff, specialized outreach and 
   provision of bi-lingual services. A clinical needs assessment was conducted with
   assistance from Robert Pynoos, M.D., Director of Trauma Psychiatry at UCLA/
   Neuropsychiatric Institute. Levels of PTSD and depression were assessed nine 
   months post-disaster. Levels of PTSD and comorbid depression were significantly
   higher in children whose homes were destroyed. Dissatisfaction with current 
   living arrangements and perceptions of greater difficulty in school were strong
   correlates of distress. These findings confirmed the need for extended mental
   health services beyond the initial event as the risk from disaster exposure 
   continued to accrue over an extended trajectory. Factors related to sustained 
   vulnerability involved experiencing posydisaster stresses and traumatic reminders.
   Postdisaster stresses and adversities included facing the complexities of
   relocating and rebuilding. Traumatic reminders included periods of high winds
   and visualization of burned homes and blackened brush.

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