In October 2017, the Tubbs Fire consumed 5,600 structures and took 22 lives, devastating Sonoma County, California. In 2018, a local CMBM Faculty member—Adair Look, MD—invited CMBM to join local community organizations in exploring ways the community could heal and rebuild with increased resilience. After a successful CMBM workshop, these local organizations joined CMBM in creating the Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative, designed to spread comprehensive tools for healing, strengthen communal ties, and prevent the progression of stress and trauma into more serious chronic conditions.
How we worked in Sonoma County
The Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative is training 300 community members in CMBM’s comprehensive model of self-care and group support, enabling them to serve tens of thousands of children and adults across the county through Mind-Body Skills Groups, workshops and individual or classroom work. Over 200 individuals are already working with thousands of people in Sonoma County, many of whom lost their homes or businesses in the 2017 wildfires. Half of the participants from the second cohort serve Sonoma’s Latinx community, many of whom run Mind-Body Skills Groups in Spanish. From county jails, to schools, to health centers, CMBM’s model is being implemented widely across Sonoma County.
Our impacts
The Sonoma County service providers who participated in CMBM’s training have, according to standardized scientific scales, experienced:
- decreased stress, anxiety, and depression
- increased hope for the future
- increased feelings of self-assurance, happiness, and serenity
