Our hearts are with California as they face massive wildfires that have displaced families, destroyed homes, and threatened communities.
NAMI has curated the mental health resources below to help provide support to those impacted. We will add more resources as they become available.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Local NAMI Resources
- NAMI Greater Los Angeles County
- For local NAMI resources in the Los Angeles Area click here
- NAMI GLAC Connect with Hope Warmline is here for you if you need somebody to talk to during this difficult time. It is staffed by Certified Peer Support Specialists and is available Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 8 PM PT
- Call 818-208-1801 or email [email protected]
- Free support groups for individuals living with mental health conditions (Connections Recovery Support Group) and for those loving someone with a mental health condition (Family Support Group) are also available.
- NAMI Urban Los Angeles
- Free support groups are also available. You can find the next one on the calendar found here.
- Family Support Group
- NAMI Connections Peer Support Group
- NAMI 가족 지원 그룹 (NAMI Korean Support Group)
- Grupo de Apoyo para Familiares de NAMI (Family Support Group in Spanish)
- Grupo de Apoyo “Conexión y Recuperación” de NAMI (Peer Support Group in Spanish)
- Free support groups are also available. You can find the next one on the calendar found here.
- NAMI Westside Los Angeles
- English Warmline: 1-424-293-0645
- Línea de apoyo emocional: 1-424-293-0646
- Free support groups are also available
- Family Support Group
- NAMI Connections Peer Support Group
- De Persona a Persona, un espacio especializado para nuestra vibrante comunidad hispanohablante.
- NAMI California
- The state chapter of NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness, that provides support, education, advocacy, and awareness for people with mental health conditions and their families.
Trauma Resources
Resources Supporting Children
- NAMI’s Meet Little Monster coloring and activity book: This activity book fosters dialogue between children and the safe adults in their lives, as well as provide children a tool for helping express and explore their feelings in a fun, creative, and empowering way.
- Available in English and Spanish for just the cost of shipping, use code “AbC6264” to order up to 9 packs of 25 coloring books.
- Also available for download and are available for download in English, Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, and Vietnamese.
- NAMI TraumaInSight: a virtual training that covers the principles of trauma awareness. When working with youth and young adults who have experienced a traumatic event, like the California wildfires, using trauma-informed practices creates safe and secure environments for them. This course is designed for youth-serving professionals, can be completed in three hours, and is completely free. Start NAMI TraumaInSight today.
- Good Inside’s “Resources for Parents Navigating the California Wildfires”
Workplace Resources
- Supporting Your Mental Health After Trauma: In the workplace, NAMI encourages people to bring their whole selves to work. To do that, it’s important to acknowledge our lives outside of the workplace and how non-work-related trauma can impact us.
- For Leaders: Supporting Employee Mental Health During Traumatic Events or Challenging Times: As employers, it’s important to acknowledge what’s happening outside of the workplace, recognize its potential impact on employee wellness, and support employees so that they can continue to do their best work. This NAMI StigmaFree resource provides definitions of trauma, guidance, and resources to help you support your team.
Additional Resources
- Finding A Trusted Adult: Reaching out about mental health can be or feel overwhelming, embarrassing or just hard. Use this guide to help you choose someone to confide.
- How to Help a Friend: A one-pager that gives suggestions on how to support a friend struggling with a mental health condition
- Positive Coping Skills video: Do you have a mental health toolkit? In this video, NAMI volunteer Britt shares what positive coping skills are and how to develop a mental health toolkit so that we don’t fall into negative coping strategies. Additionally, she discusses what specific skills help her cope.
- Mental Wellness Moments: An activity guide to incorporate daily wellness activities to enhance the emotional well-being of young people.
- Mindfulness Activities: Often, young people can find it hard to focus or can be impacted by events around them. You can use these exercises to bring them back into the moment.
- Mental Health Resource Poster: Youth serving professionals can help young people access vital mental health resources easily and confidentially with this convenient poster. Youth can tear away important mental health resource information or scan the QR code to save contacts directly into their phones. NAMI recommends pre-cutting the tear aways at the bottom and tearing off the first one to relieve the pressure of any student being the first to take one.
- 10 Questions on a Tuesday: An activity guide for parents and guardians to discuss mental health and well-being with their children in the home and develop supportive practical strategies.
- How To Be a Trusted Adult: An activity guide for parents and caregivers to explain who is a “trusted adult” and tips on how to become one.
- The Three C’s for Parents and Guardians: A one-pager with tips for parents on supporting their children’s emotional and mental well-being during the challenging transition back to the classroom and throughout the school year!