Shortly after the Eaton Fire was displaced from her home in Los Angeles, 10-year-old Emory Stumme broke down. Tears came over the family dinner and she tried to breathe.

"You just thought, 'I can't pick up this fork, it's too heavy.'" Emory's mother Beca told her, telling the episode. "You start crying, laughing, crying, and then lifting up. I was like, 'Oh my God, she's really resting mentally.'

Becca Stumme, her husband and their two children lost Altadena's home in the fire. Emory and her 3-year-old brothers paused until they could move. When Eaton and Palisades launched in January (the second and third most destructive in California history, respectively), familiarity, friend groups and routines were frustrated with Emory and many of her peers.

So when Becca heard about a free day trip that the camp emerged in northeast Los Angeles to help families displaced by the fire, she signed her daughter. It is part of a series of Free Day Camps in Southern California organized by Project: Camp, which aims to provide some normal levels for children displaced by disasters.

Mikey Latner founded the project: CAMP in 2018, inspired by what he believes is that it needs to help children deal with stress when working on their daily work. The idea was raised from work in Houston the previous year, Hurricane Harvey was displaced. He said camp counselors have a unique ability to care for children after natural disasters. Ratner said the camp’s approach stems from research showing that adverse childhood experiences are associated with lifelong physical and mental health problems.

"By providing a sense of security and normality in the camp, we can help lower stress levels and return them to routine, and only then can they start creating narratives around what is happening... so that they know something has happened, something has happened, and it's safe now - ending this uncertainty and fear."

The Palisades fire began on January 7 at the first training camp ignited on January 7 and was run three days later. There are 10 camps in the entire area, and children aged 5 to 16 are welcome. Many camps lasted for two or three weeks.

The program offers typical day camp activities such as crafts, as well as games like Tags. Other activities are more directly attracted by the camp’s trauma information approach. Mental health professionals are on site as volunteers to help address emotional problems arising from children.

Wildfires have caused losses in habits, community and familiarity to wildfires, said Kat O'Malley, a partner marriage and family therapist who volunteers to practice in the Los Angeles area. She said that since the fire, parents have sought treatment with her after noticing signs of emotional and physical distress bound by the tragedy. O'Malley said some children are increasing panic or nightmares and are more likely to experience separation anxiety and mood swings, while others seem unaffected.

"Their sense of security, stability - it's all shocking," she said.

For children who have experienced natural disasters, this helps find some normal feelings to start the healing process, O'Malley said.

Beca said Emory's time at the camp gave her daughter the opportunity to connect with friends when she paused.

"The first day we picked her up from camp, I was like, 'Oh, this is an old kid,'" Stam said. "She was able to meet her friends, play outside, just a kid, and not worry about, for example, 'Where are we going to live tonight?' or "What clothes do I have?" ” “

Marah Eakin said sending her 6-year-old twins to the camp gives her much-needed space to handle her feelings and handle “adult stuff,” such as insurance paperwork.

The Eakin family has been bounced from one short-term rental to another. Their house they rented in Altadena is still standing, about 100 feet outside the burn scars of the Eaton Fire. But despite their efforts to get landlords to clean the location of ash and other toxic chemicals, she said it is not clear whether or when they will be able to return.

The mother said that when Mala's children's school resumed, not all the classmates came back. “A lot of friends are spread in the wind,” she said.

Her daughter Zella missed the stuffed animal left behind.

O'Malley said that for some people, seemingly trivial losses are usually not a child struggling to deal with them. The therapist says whether it’s stuffed animals or family pets, children will feel sad about a variety of things that may affect how they feel about their identity.

"I think the biggest thing in grief work is when something changes your identity," she said. "Oh, I have seven Guinea pigs, six of them are hairless - and that's an interesting fact for me - one of my guinea pigs died last month, I keep going, I have to say six pigs now, not seven pigs, not seven? It changes the way you introduce yourself, it changes your identity too much, there are these changes, there are these transformations."

The kids eventually directed the program: boot camp, O'Malley said, while adults allowed them to space to talk about the feelings that might appear throughout the day. Mental health checks are performed frequently, during which time children are encouraged to choose numbers that represent their feelings in the range of 1 to 10. “The “Gratitude Circle” invites children to share what they are grateful for; sometimes they thank food or meet friends. With such practice, camp plans can give children the opportunity to hear their stories, O’Malley said.

"When other people go, 'Oh, there's a reason for this,' - it's not someone telling you what your experience is." "It does reduce. But it can be very powerful when you give the meaning of the event yourself."

Usually, she says, healing – sharing their feelings, telling their stories – happens in the middle of the moment.

“You think, ‘Does anyone need to share?’ People are like, ‘No, we want to have lunch,” O’Malley said. “And then on the way to lunch, someone goes, ‘Oh, wow, that reminds me of my kitchen, with such beautiful tiles inside, I disappeared for the tiles. This really makes sense to my family - Oh yes, hot dogs! ” “