By Camille Von Kaenel, Oroville Mercury-Register, August 21, 2019
A network of volunteer trauma therapists is winding down its intervention in Butte County after working with more than 500 Camp Fire survivors and training sixty local therapists to reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Northern California Trauma Recovery Network, a group housed under the umbrella of the Humanitarian Assistance Program, deployed around 50 therapists from all over the region who are specialized in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing to volunteer at least a few hours of their expertise in the Chico area after the Camp Fire.
They are part of a wider group that has been sending specialized therapists to disasters since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Usually, the therapists volunteer for at most six months, because that’s around the time when PTSD symptoms increase. Those symptoms can include flashbacks, anxiety, nightmares, panic attacks and depression and physical manifestations like headaches, stomachaches and an inability to sleep. But the Northern California chapter, coordinated by licensed marriage and family therapist Dr. Pennisue Hignell, stayed for longer because hundreds of people kept requesting the help. The final few sessions will be taking place in the next few weeks.
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