13-05-2025
Sycamores continues to provide mental health resources to youth impacted by January wildfires
Ariel Hernandez remembers January 8 when her grandfather noticed the pressing dange of the Eaton Fire.
"He said, 'We gotta evacuate, we gotta evacuate,' said Hernandez. "The last time he said that the house was on fire, I ran to my aunt's room crying."
It was then that life as this 10-year-old knew it had changed.
Jana Lord is a psychologist and the chief operating officer of Sycamores, a nonprofit organization in Pasadena that offers care for a full range of youth mental health conditions, ranging from the anxiety that comes with adjusting to a new school all the way to those that include being a danger to oneself and others.
Their residential treatment facilities, like El Nido in Altadena, offer around the clock care for youths in crisis. There are also smaller facilities throughout the area, like the one where Hernandez began therapy for severe anxiety two years ago.
"I had pain in my chest and I went to the hospital for it because of how scared it made me," she said.
Two days after she was checked out at the hospital, Hernandez received an appointment with Sycamores therapist Bianca Turano. They've been working together since.
"She's helped me, like, calm my anxiety," Hernandez said.
Lord says that healing begins with accepting help.
"So many of them might wish that they could just feel differently," she said. "You can't just wish those feelings away, unfortunately."
That's why therapy aims to help youth learn how to process and cope with trauma. For Hernandez, that is the aftermath of the Eaton Fire.
"The sad thing is my grandma had just bought me an art kit for Christmas and I'm devastated that I didn't take it with me when we were evacuating," she said.
Not only has she had to deal with the loss of her home and all of her belongings, but like so many other fire victims, she's had to go through multiple moves as her family seeks stability. Each of the four times they've had to pick up and find somewhere new, Hernandez said it's a bit of a heartbreak.
"I got attached to the hotel in Monrovia, and so I was kind of sad when we had to move, but then we moved to Azusa," she said. "I got attached to that and then when we had to move I was sad. And now that we're here, where we're at now, I like it a lot because it reminds me of home."
Unfortunately, Ariel and her family are going to have to move once again. It's this, paired with January's tragedy, that has brought the return of some of her worst symptoms.
"Strong wind terrifies me," she said. "I just get nauseous and I start shaking and I get chest pain."
Lord says that the wildfires have had a dramatic impact on Los Angeles County youth, including some of the Sycamores staff.
"For anybody that has a history of adverse or traumatic events in their lives, whenever another event happens it can be very triggering and it can compound prior traumatic events," Lord said.
Ariel was supposed to graduate from therapy last December, but she's not going to continue working with Bianca through July.
"Sometimes I get irritated when I have to talk to her, but then I do talk to her and it makes me feel better," she said.
Despite the recent trauma, she continues to heal, using the tools that Bianca has provided to help her cope.
"No natural disaster can take that away from her," Lord said.
