Community Trauma After a Wildfire: Surviving Wildfire Season
Since January 1, 2024, 979 wildfires have occurred in Alberta. With recent escalations in fires throughout the province, and with our community’s history, it is natural to experience worry.
At Boreal Therapy Collective, we are proud to support the residents of the RMWB and are dedicated to collective healing. We’re committed to providing trauma-informed therapy for children, teenagers, families, and adults.
Understanding Collective Trauma After a Traumatic Event
Collective trauma refers to a shared trauma that affects a specific community. Collective trauma responses can emerge from many different events, including:
natural disasters, including earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, tsunamis, and floods
pandemics and localized epidemics
widespread economic crises
terrorist attacks, wars, and political upheavals
major transportation crises like airplane crashes, sinking boats, or train collisions
mass shootings or other significant acts of violence
The effects of collective trauma can be physical, economic, psychological, and social. There's often a marked sense of fear and cynicism within the community.
Significant relational crises can also emerge. For instance, some people find themselves gravitating toward each other (creating a sense of unity). Others pull apart or demean their neighbours, exacerbating themes of division and polarity within the community. These reactions can heighten psychological distress and worsen individual mental health.
Even after healing happens, the collective memory of the community changes after a collective trauma occurs. There may be an altered cultural identity, and this shift can affect the narrative of both past generations and the current generation simultaneously. It’s true that people and communities rebuild. But it’s also true that psychological ‘rebuilding’ can be a longterm process.
Common Responses Wildfire Survivors Experience During Wildfire Season
Collective Fear
Traumatic events are inherently terrifying, and unlike some natural disasters, which start and end quickly, wildfire season lasts for months. The longevity of the season can disrupt our fundamental sense of safety. When collective fear is strong, people may present as keyed-up or on edge, while others may appear aggressive and angry. For some, the risk of new fire threats may seem debilitating, leading to isolation and withdrawal.
Numbness or Detachment
Dealing with the threat of a wildfire - or the perceived threat of a wildfire - can kick your adrenaline into gear. For some, this results in a sense of detachment or feelings of 'nothingness' about what is happening around them. With that, it's important to know that your body is still integrating these experiences. Even if you emotionally don't register the impact or perceived impact, your body may hold onto the tension and fear. This may show up in somatic symptoms, including gastrointestinal distress, chronic pain, fatigue, and more.
Increased Anxiety
For those who have experienced a traumatic event, anxiety is normal. Unfortunately, this anxiety can show-up when a wildfire threat - or perceived wildfire threat - re-appears. For instance, smokey air may create symptoms like panic attacks, nightmares, rumination, or trouble concentrating. These symptoms may be significant enough to impact your daily routine. It is also common to experience an increase in climate anxiety or a sense of existential dread about all that you can't control.
It's very typical for children to experience more anxiety when it comes to fire season, particularly after having experienced a wildfire. They may tense up at certain cues (like the sound of fire trucks) or may complain of physical reactions like headaches. As a parent, it's important to validate your child’s concerns without lying about the truth. They need to trust that their anxiety symptoms are safe with you.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD can emerge from unresolved trauma. Symptoms can affect both children and adults, and it's important to be aware of potential red flags. Some of the most common responses of PTSD include avoidance behaviours, hypervigilance, memory impairments, and a persistently negative mood.
Children may reenact trauma via play or thought. They might also be more likely to explicitly showcase sleep problems, such as insomnia, nightmares, or having tantrums around bedtime. Some children may also exhibit signs of separation anxiety - this is a common reaction if they previously had to evacuate their home on short notice or were physically disconnected from you for any length of time.
What You Can Do To Cope During Wildfire Season:
In addition to acknowledging the impact of collective community trauma, it is important that you support you.
Acknowledge your feelings: You may feel angry, upset, guilty, afraid, or any combination of the above. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having any of these feelings and acknowledging them is one of the first steps toward healing.
Seek support from loved ones: Nobody should have to navigate trauma alone. One of the only silver linings of community trauma is that people do tend to come together. Lean on trusted friends and family members.
Stick to your routine: Trauma recovery is an ongoing process. Adhering to your daily responsibilities can give you a much-needed sense of structure through the day. This doesn't invalidate your emotional needs, and it certainly doesn't mean you can't be flexible or take breaks. But routines can be incredibly grounding, especially in moments of serious upheaval.
Be mindful of 'escape' behaviours: Although drinking, overeating, gambling, or other compulsive behaviours can certainly be tempting during tough times, try to eliminate or avoid engaging in them. They don't support adaptive coping, and they can actually perpetuate some of the negative consequences associated with trauma.
Limit or monitor your media consumption: It's one thing to undergo a traumatic experience in real-time. It's another thing to continuously relive it through social media, 24/7 news feeds, and online forums. Media misinformation is a rampant problem, and it can warp your perspective of risk.
Consider seeking professional help: Traumatic events can magnify individual distress and worsen pre-existing mental health conditions. This does not make you a weak person, but it may make you feel poorly about yourself. A caring mental health professional can provide you with new perspectives and coping strategies intended to help you during this tender time.
Mental Health Services for Wildfire Survivors
Collective trauma is not a mental health diagnosis. However, mental health professionals deeply understand the interplay that occurs between community tragedy and individual well-being. If you are struggling to cope with another chaotic and unpredictable wildfire season, you are not alone, and you do not need to manage your complex emotions on your own.
Most people find that recovery is a dynamic, social, psychological process that often entails many parts. At Boreal Therapy Collective, we are passionate about supporting our community. Our collective identity matters and fires represent a threat to the place we call home. If you’re looking for support, you can schedule an initial assessment with one of our practitioners here.
