Hurricane Harvey was one of the costliest tropical cyclones in America’s history, leaving Houston and the surrounding areas with $125 billion in damages. All of the Houston Metroplex’s 7 million residents were impacted by the massive storm, and continue to require emotional and psychological healing.
How we worked in Houston
CMBM reached out to program graduates in the area and received an immediate response from Gwen Brehm, M.Ed., LPC, the Founder and Executive Director of Houston’s Center for Mind Body Health. Brehm reached out to friends and colleages, and leading Houston-based behavioral health and social service organizations—the Institute for Spirituality and Health (ISH), the Menninger Clinic, Houston Galveston Institute, the Jung Center, Compassionate Houston, and Healing Circles Houston—to create the Greater Houston Healing Collaborative (GHHC).
In late November 2017, with funding provided by the Greater Houston Community Foundation’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund and The Rotary Club of Houston District 5890, the Collaborative began organizing a community-wide trauma relief and resilience building program for persons impacted by Hurricane Harvey in the City of Houston and Harris County, Texas.
Our impact
Trainees have integrated our model into their work in local hospitals and clinics, schools, community-based organizations, and houses of faith, reaching over 10,000 Houstonians. GHHC-trained facilitators have focused on heavily-impacted areas across Houston, including Kashmere Gardens, Bear Creek, Bellaire, Meyerland, Third Ward, Katy, Pasadena, VA hospitals, and the Felony Mental Health Court, among many others. The GHHC is organizing as a permanent body, creating a charter for membership and structuring to provide long-term, sustainable mind-body programs and future disaster responses.
10,000
traumatized children and adults reached
120
physicians, nurses, counselors, educator, and spiritual leaders trained in our model
