Wildfires in California: Surviving Natural Disasters and Managing ADHD

January 15, 2025 |

The wildfires burning near Los Angeles, California, directly affect members of CHADD. Some have lost their homes while others are scrambling to help friends and family members.

“We lost our house in the Altadena wildfire, where we had my mother-in-law staying, and, while not our property, my step-grandmother’s house,” says Letizia S. Hendrickson, MS, CCC-SLP.

Hendrickson is a member of CHADD’s education committee and a bilingual speech-language pathologist working with individuals who have ADHD. She is thankful that her relatives are safe despite the loss of all their belongings.

Miraculously, her own home was not destroyed, but it is one of the few in her area that was not. She is devastated at how her neighborhood looks after her family recently was allowed back in.

“The scene was surreal and felt like the movie lot of a postapocalyptic movie,” says Hendrickson. “Gas was burning straight out of broken pipes, power poles burning at the bases, power lines broken and laying across the road.”

While helping with the disaster recovery efforts, she keeps thinking about ADHD community members. Hendrickson is especially concerned about the toll this disaster will take on their mental health and executive function skills.

“These members of the communities impacted will require specialized assistance to help with the recovery process,” she says.

“Overall, the area looks like a war scene and will take years to recover,” she says. “Added to this is the stress of trying to locate documents for insurance, property information, making lists, forwarding lost prescriptions to different pharmacies, applying for aid, replacing walkers and other equipment, providing necessities for displaced family members all the while trying to process what just happened.”

Coping with disaster recovery, trauma, and ADHD

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In the face of disaster, people can feel displaced, confused, and scared. For adults and children who have ADHD and their families, symptoms can make these normal reactions worse.

Sam Goldstein, PhD, a former member of CHADD’s professional advisory board, says people who have ADHD face particular challenges when it comes to managing disasters.

“They often miss critical cues in the environment necessary to shift behavior,” says Dr. Goldstein. “They have trouble doing what they know consistently, predictably, and independently, and they are less likely to be prepared and more likely to respond in non-thinking, impulsive ways in the face of problems.”

Support is important during and after a natural disaster, says Ian Stanley, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and psychological health lead for the CU Anschutz Center for Combat Medicine and Battlefield Research.

“Check in on one another,” Dr. Stanley says, “send messages of support, and offer to plan an enjoyable activity. For kids, it is important to emphasize that what happened is not their fault and to express hope for the future.”

Facing disaster

Suzanne Sophos, president-elect on CHADD’s board of directors, lives two and a half miles from the California Palisades fire and is currently sheltering fire evacuees in her home. She has organized a support group for people with ADHD and they plan to meet regularly during this crisis and in its aftermath. Sophos is also the executive director for CHADD of Greater Los Angeles.

She says it is eye-opening how much people are struggling with tasks they need to do in wake of the fires. Residents of the greater Los Angeles area are urged to pack a bag of essential personal items in case they must immediately evacuate. Just packing these essential items can be difficult for someone with ADHD. They can have a hard time deciding what is essential, both to them personally and for legal or financial needs. They are frequently overwhelmed by the task and delay getting ready to run when necessary.

“The amount of executive function needed to handle the stuff that we have to do, especially when we are stressed out and worried, has been especially hard for those of us with ADHD,” says Sophos.

“There’s also a lot of shame about things that should have been done,” she adds. For some people, their symptoms may have gotten in the way of getting homeowners insurance or keeping up with their insurance policy payments. As a result, their house may not be insured. They may have had to evacuate without a list of things that were in their house, a list needed to file insurance claims.

“For someone with ADHD, it’s out of sight, out of mind. These are the things that are challenging for people,” she says.

If you live in an evacuation-readiness zone, take a video walkthrough of your house, focusing on the valuable items. Sophos did this with her cell phone and verbally described valuable items as a video inventory in case she needs to provide it to her insurance company.

Sophos recommends asking for help if you feel overwhelmed by the steps needed to prepare. Her support group members created an accountability list (available here) based on ToDoist, an app and website, that has a free option for use. At follow-up meetings, members check in with one another to see how much each person has done on their list. She says this kind of accountability is helpful during times of fire risk. Call a friend or family member if you are struggling to pack your to-go bag, she suggests, and ask them to be there with you while you pack.

Members of her support group have found the Watch Duty app to be helpful in figuring out where the fires are and the potential areas the fires might move to next.

Emergency Grab and Go Planning List. Click to download.

Checklists can be useful if you are having a hard time deciding what to take with you during an evacuation. There are several ready-made lists based on how many minutes you have to evacuate and there are also checklists of important documents to take with you.

If you include medication as part of an ADHD treatment plan, take your medication with you and continue to take it every day. Disruption from the fires may make it hard to have prescriptions refilled.

Along with stress and trauma, expect occasional setbacks. Give yourself grace during these times and reach out for help if you are struggling. The Greater Los Angeles CHADD chapter will continue to hold support group meetings and will be adding new meetings to reach those affected by the fires.

Helping children to cope following a disaster

Children are vulnerable in times of crisis, not only physically but emotionally and mentally. Parents can help their children cope with disaster by first and foremost providing them with a sense of safety, says Rahn K. Bailey, MD, a psychiatrist and the department head of psychiatry at LSU Health Science Center School of Medicine.

“The child has to feel safe, and safety is a function of the environment that the parent creates,” says Dr. Bailey. “It is up to the parents to inform and instruct their children in age-appropriate language. The children need to feel comfortable and confident that their parents will keep them safe, and it’s the parents’ job to create that type of environment in what they do and say.”

Psychologist Jeffrey Katz spent time in disaster zones following major hurricanes and was formerly in charge of disaster mental health services for the American Red Cross Disaster Team. He is now a co-chair of CHADD’s advocacy and public policy committee.

Communication is essential when coping with a crisis, says Dr. Katz. Parents must work hard to understand what their children are feeling and let the children know that they are safe, the family is together, and they are going to get through the crisis.

“Don’t lie to your children,” he says. “First convince yourself that things are going to be okay, and then convince your kids.”

He recommends parents talk with their children about other times when they dealt with distress and discuss how they coped.

“Help them reconnect with their coping skills,” says Dr. Katz. “Let them know, as much as possible, step by step, what you’re going to do.”

Steps toward recovery

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The question of what comes next will weigh on the minds of anyone who has survived the California wildfires. The recovery efforts may take months to years, which can seem daunting for someone with ADHD. Tasks like applying for aid, finding a new pharmacy if yours has been affected by the wildfires, contacting your insurance company, and even keeping up with your ADHD treatment plan may seem even more challenging in the face of having your life disrupted in such a way.

“ADHD adds a layer of complexity to rising to such a herculean task,” says Hendrickson.

An important part of recovery is knowing stress will take a toll on families. There will be new and unexpected stressors during the weeks and months following the California wildfires. Hendrickson recommends finding a peer support system or a mentor who has experienced recovering from wildfires, as this shared experience can be helpful for your own recovery process.

“I think this is a time when mental health support systems are needed the most,” she says. “I think the professionals should be reaching out at this time to provide the scaffolding of strategies that our ADHD and neurodivergent community at large needs right now.”

The University of California, Los Angeles, has created a list of resources to help support you and your family. These resources include tips about how to talk to your child about wildfires and how to cope with the emotional impact.

Moving forward

Dr. Katz says to expect feelings of frustration as the recovery efforts continue.

“People with ADHD tend to want immediacy,” he explains. “Day by day, things are getting better, and it’s important for individuals to take the long view.”

Dr. Bailey suggests parents help their children by reminding them that “things that made them happy before the disaster, such as soccer, church, and friends, can occur in a new place with new people.”

“We must help [children and adults] understand, at a level consistent with their development and emotional capabilities, what such a disaster means,” says Dr. Goldstein, “but also provide them with opportunities to help others and develop hope.”

Acceptance, connection, and care are important at this time, he says. Applied together and with consistency, they can help to build resilience following a disaster.

“Acceptance of what you can and cannot control, connections to others, and care by helping others,” says Dr. Goldstein. “Not as a way of avoiding personal feelings of loss, grief, sadness, or worry, but as an effective way to ease pain and stress.”

Resources for immediate needs:

This article was expanded and updated in January 2025 during the wildfires in Los Angeles, California. Some of the content appeared in earlier versions in Attention magazine, December 2005, and in ADHD Weekly, October 2022.

Posted in Adults, Mental Health, Parenting Tips, Uncategorized

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