Please check back soon for updates,
Have you taken part in a Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® workshop or Disaster Relief Mobilization (DRM-CRM) workshop?
These free, virtual gatherings are designed to bring together fire-affected communities, and those who support them, to share, reflect, and practice skills that cultivate wellbeing, connection, and recovery.
January 7, 2026 — 12:00pm (Pacific Time)
January 15th, 2026 — 6:00pm (Pacific Time)
Click HERE or click the link below to register for our Connection Circles on Zoom.
Connection Circles are 1-hour online sessions where participants can:
Ask questions about using the practical skills of DRM-CRM in everyday life
Share experiences.
Connect with others who have walked a similar path
Simply take time to be together in community
This is an ongoing space to create community and to know you’re not alone.
Fire-affected residents navigating recovery
Helpers and frontline supporters — teachers, counselors, community leaders, faith leaders, nonprofit staff — who are caring for impacted communities
Because skills cultivated in community can create a shared experience of wellbeing. Connection Circles are a reminder that:
Recovery is a shared journey
Stories inspire strength
Even a single hour of connection can shift how we move through hardship
Free & virtual — join from anywhere
60 minutes — come for the whole session or drop in as you’re able
Hosted every two weeks — each session includes open sharing and a guided prompt
Helping Survivors: Support & Lessons Learned from the Campfire Survivors
Healing Lahaina: Support & Lessons Learned from Campfire Survivors
The Human Toll of Fire Disasters: Helping & Healing Kids & Family
Crisis Recovery for Kids, Parents, and Teachers
Disasters impact survivors emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Article Key Points:
Survivor's guilt can be an overwhelming response after emerging relatively unscathed when others did not.
Strong emotions and guilt are natural response to an extraordinary event.
Acts of generosity activate brain circuits that support well-being, whether witnessed, given, or received.
Source: NASA through Unsplash
Helping survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton with a public health approach.
Article Key Points:
The Disaster Relief Mobilization: Community Resiliency Model Program is trauma and resiliency-informed.
It is critical to incorporate community wellness strategies into disaster planning.
Children and adults can learn how to stabilize their nervous systems after disasters to reduce suffering.
Strength-oriented questions highlighting the survival experience can reduce suffering.
Somatic self-care intervention can support well-being and promote healing.
Article Key Points:
Healing is not just an individual journey but a communal process that thrives in supportive environments.
Body-based approaches to therapy can help stabilize the nervous system.
“Bottom-up” or body-based therapies can complement “top-down” cognitive approaches.
The Disaster Relief Mobilization–Community Resiliency Model (DRM-CRM) is a skills-based, trauma and resiliency-informed program designed to support communities in the aftermath of natural disasters.
Grounded in biology and wellbeing science, DRM-CRM equips survivors, families, and responders with practical tools to regulate the nervous system, reduce distress, and foster collective healing.
By integrating self-care strategies, strength-based conversations, and community-driven practices, DRM-CRM promotes recovery, prevents compassion fatigue, and can cultivate long-term resilience across the lifespan and with diverse populations.
The Disaster Relief Mobilization–Community Resiliency Model (DRM-CRM) Program is designed to bring healing, stabilization, and sustainable resilience to communities impacted by natural disasters, including the devastating Los Angeles firestorms and flooding in the US Southern states. Rooted in the Community Resiliency Model (CRM)®, this initiative provides biologically based, evidence-informed tools that restore balance to the nervous system and strengthen community recovery.
Support Communities After Disaster: Offer wellness skills that help survivors and responders manage stress, trauma, and uncertainty.
Recognize Strengths and Challenges: Identify existing community resources and barriers that shape recovery.
Understand Survival Responses: Explain the body’s natural reactions—fight, flight, freeze, and tend-and-befriend-and their role in disaster healing.
Strengthen Self-Care: Help participants assess their own Resilient Zone and practice strategies to prevent burnout.
Adapt for All Settings: Deliver DRM-CRM gatherings tailored to group size, culture, and shared trauma contexts.
Communicate with Compassion: Apply CRM’s six wellness skills through supportive, strength-based conversations.
Know When to Refer: Recognize signs of deeper mental health needs and guide survivors to appropriate care pathways.
Build Sustainable Plans: Develop personalized and community-based self-care strategies to prevent compassion fatigue and enhance well-being.
Practice Through Role-Play: Develop real-world readiness by applying DRM-CRM skills to post-disaster scenarios.
The phases of DRM-CRM implementation are important because they provide a structured pathway that guides communities from immediate crisis response toward long-term resilience and recovery. By moving step-by-step, survivors and helpers can build capacity, reduce overwhelm, and strengthen both individual and collective well-being in the aftermath of disaster.
Stabilization & Outreach – Immediate support with skills-based tools for survivors, families, and responders.
Capacity Building – Training local leaders, educators, and community members to use and share CRM skills.
Sustainability & Integration – Embedding DRM-CRM into community networks, schools, and recovery systems for long-term resilience.
Individuals: Reduce anxiety, fear, and overwhelm through nervous system regulation.
Families: Strengthen connection and safety after shared loss or displacement.
Communities: Foster solidarity and hope in the face of destruction.
Responders: Build resilience and prevent compassion fatigue among frontline helpers.