Revisiting the LA Wildfires: Trauma, Recovery & What’s Changed Since

 

Wit & Reason with alex and DR. Alexis

In this special re-release, Dr. Alexis and Alex revisit their powerful conversation with Freddie Bell, founder of A Gift from Glenn, recorded just days after the January 2025 LA wildfires began.

Freddie shares raw insights from the frontlines of disaster response—from distributing aid to realizing mental health was the missing emergency service. This episode is a reflection on trauma, grief, vicarious exhaustion, and what community healing really demands.

Whether you’re just learning about the fires or still recovering months later, this conversation holds space for real talk and real recovery.

Resources from the Show

Guest

Freddie Bell - A Gift from Glenn

Freddie Bell

Founder, A Gift from Glenn

Freddie Bell is a dedicated nonprofit founder, community organizer, and disaster response advocate based in Los Angeles. He is the founder of A Gift from Glen, a nonprofit named in honor of his late father, a U.S. Marine who passed away from complications related to Agent Orange exposure. Driven by a personal mission to prevent others from suffering in silence, Freddie established his organization in 2018 to provide meaningful support to those in crisis.

When the January 2025 LA wildfires struck, Freddie mobilized within days. He delivered supplies, coordinated shelter, and advocated for the often-overlooked mental health needs of survivors. His work spans from feeding first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic to organizing trauma-informed recovery efforts in wildfire zones. Known for his ability to bring communities together across lines of race, class, and geography, Freddie brings heart, hustle, and humility to every effort.

He believes that recovery is not just about rebuilding homes. It is about restoring people, stories, and dignity. Freddie continues to be a powerful voice for equity, resilience, and mental health awareness in disaster response.

Host

Dr. Alexis Moreno - Wit & Reason

ALEXIS MORENO, PSYD, MA, MS - SHE/HER

PSYCHOLOGIST, HEALTH CORRESPONDENT, Speaker, & Founder

Dr. Alexis (she/her) utilizes the powerful impact awareness, education, & opportunity have on mental health. She mindfully creates fun & supportive experiences for her speaking and media audience and private clients to safely explore their true values, learn new healthy practices, & take action steps toward living authentically.

She has a Doctorate in Clinical Community Psychology, a Master of Arts in Marriage & Family Therapy, & a Bachelor of Science in both Television Broadcasting & Psychology. With over 16 years of experience in media & psychology, she aims to make mental health relatable & accessible for all through her coaching, consultation, & media outreach.

Dr. Alexis provides media, speaking, & mental health consultation services. Book a complimentary consult with Dr. Alexis today!

Alex Honigman - Wit & Reason

Alex Honigman, LICSW, MA- HE/ HIM

Clinical Director, Speaker, Therapist, & Executive Coach

Alex (he/him) enjoys the relationship between the psyche and society. Having never wanted to pick a side in the nature versus nurture debate he pursued degrees in both Psychology and Sociology and finally a Masters of Social Work with an emphasis on clinical interventions. He has worked as an educator for non-profits and lecturer for Universities. Starting as a therapist for survivors of trauma, moving on to perpetrators and spent significant time as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at a Forensic State Hospital. Alex continues to emphasize culture as a key component to effective therapy and the changing of systems (organizations and businesses). Whether this be through; music, film, tv, art, comics, games, memes or other aspects of popular (or sometimes unpopular) culture. Utilizing an individuals cultural values to make for a more meaningful individualized therapeutic intervention.

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Episode Transcription

Dr. Alexis: [00:00:00] Hey everyone, it's Dr. Alexis, and before we jump into today's episode, I want to give you some context. This conversation was recorded shortly after the devastating wildfires that swept through Los Angeles in January, 2025. In the days that followed, tens of thousands were displaced homes and history reduced to ash, and communities were left holding more than just physical loss.

They were carrying grief, anxiety and uncertainty. Now, whether you're listening a few months or even years later, this episode is still incredibly relevant because disasters don't just leave burn scars on the land. They imprint on our collective mental health and long after the headlines fade, many are still trying to rebuild physically, emotionally, and financially.

In this episode, we talk about what it means to cope in real time, to support others while processing your own shock. And how recovery for both individuals and communities can stretch across years. You'll also hear from an incredible on the ground [00:01:00] guest, Freddie Bell, who shares how his non-profit stepped up to meet evolving needs from housing to trauma recovery.

As you listen, I invite you to reflect what has changed since those fires, what hasn't, and how are we showing up for each other? Now, wherever now finds us. Let's revisit and keep the conversation going.

Wit and Reason with Alex and Dr. Alexis, where real talk meets real growth. Diving deep into relationships and breakthroughs, live insights, expert advice, and your voice in the mix.

Let's build better lives together.

Alex: Hi, I am Alex.

Dr. Alexis: Hey, I am Dr. Alexis and this is Wit and Reason with DC Radio. Welcome back.

Alex: Thanks. I'm happy to be with

Dr. Alexis: to our, to our home. Yeah. He's been up in the Appalachian Mountains having a very different experience than everyone else on the West Coast. The, yeah. The Northeast,

Alex: we got a foot of snow.

Yeah. When I was at [00:02:00] That was beautiful and amazing and has its own set of issues and problems. Mm-hmm. Including pipes bursting and things. But

Dr. Alexis: yeah, he got stuck on ice.

Alex: Yeah. In your truck. In the truck, yeah. The truck could make it up

Dr. Alexis: on a steep hill. Yeah. And I got a panic call from him who

Alex: I thought I broke the truck.

I was up the trunk. Yeah. That's pretty

Dr. Alexis: impressive that you could break a whole truck. Yeah. Just by trying to drive

Alex: it. But I'm, I'm good at breaking things. We know this, we know that I'm good at breaking things, so Yeah. That's what happened. I didn't break it. It's all good. Yeah, it was great. So our wonderful, our wonderful community helped me out.

It was great. You got pulled out. I backed up all the way through this quarter mile driveway, and then somebody helped me out with the. Some dropping some cinders, which are not hot cinders like you would on it's, you know, a small piece of gravel type thing that is porous.

Dr. Alexis: So as Angelina was born and raised, someone let us out into the world, including all the way over to the East coast where we experienced snow and ice and our completely unprepared for [00:03:00] it.

We've also experienced hurricanes and tornadoes, which

Alex: also true,

Dr. Alexis: I mean like. If you grow up in an area, you learn through school and family and like neighborhood and community, how to navigate the different, the disasters. Yeah, the, especially the natural disasters around in the area. Well,

Alex: so being from LA we learned earthquakes.

Mm-hmm. We learned floods.

Dr. Alexis: Yeah.

Alex: And because, because we do the flash tsunamis. Yeah. S you me.

Dr. Alexis: Evacuation. Warnings everywhere. So we're prepared for earthquakes, tsunamis, flood,

Alex: floods

Dr. Alexis: floods. fires. Oh, and on flash floods or the mudslides Yeah,

Alex: and the mudslides. So it's because of the fires. Yeah. See,

Dr. Alexis: we know this kind of stuff because we're born and raised in, in las, we know what to do during the earthquake, but then if anybody picks up and moves away from their hometown to another part of the country or world, you, you don't, you have a whole new set of natural disasters.

Yeah. That, that stuff's not, you don't just like, yeah. You're not born knowing that stuff. And unless anyone teaches you, you don't know what the you're supposed

Alex: To be to No, not at all. Not [00:04:00] at all. But I mean, all the people who are outside of the West Coast don't quite know what earthquake is like or other things like know a lot of the time.

So, um, or fires like this, like wild fires, when I started looking at the footage and contacting friends and everybody else, like watch the Santa Ana winds fly through and I'm like the Santa Ana. The Santa Ana winds alone are something to be angry about. They just make you angry. I don't know if anyone out there in LA and like would agree to this.

I actually

Dr. Alexis: enjoy them until they're hot. They, until we have driver V room, they're,

Alex: They're dirty. Like, I don't know what you're talking about. It's hot, angry dirt.

Dr. Alexis: Oh, the wind is kind of romantic too, but

Alex: no hot, angry dirt. But they're

Dr. Alexis: dangerous. And so we're, we're gonna be diving more into the wildfires that have been going on in LA.

We have a wonderful guest with us, um, Freddie Bell, who's the founder of an amazing nonprofit. I did from Glenn. Who has been volunteering his time and energy and resources to helping those who have been impacted by the fires. And so let's go [00:05:00] ahead and bring Freddie in and we'll, we'll talk even more about how to navigate any kind of disaster that one might face, and how to support others who are impacted by disasters.

Freddie? Woo-hoo Freddie. Hey. Okay, good. Your audio's on. You're not on mute like I was when I first started.

Freddie: We're good to go.

Dr. Alexis: You're pro professional.

Freddie: Yes. Every day.

Dr. Alexis: I'm, I'm surprised you're not wearing your LA hat representing.

Freddie: I don't even have, I don't know what hat, what do I have on socks? Okay. Yeah. Head.

He's always from some, yeah, that's fair.

Dr. Alexis: That's fair.

Freddie: Yeah.

Dr. Alexis: We'll allow it. We, appreciate all of your support. You're, you're not originally from LA but you've been living there from quite some time now it's become your, your home and your community and you're showing up.

Freddie: Thank you. Yeah, I love it here.

It's great. Unfortunately, you know, we have a a disaster going on here, but, um, I, I actually really love LA and this is my home, so I'm gonna do everything I can to support whatever whatever's needed, you know, to make sure. [00:06:00] What do you call it? Angelenos? Yeah. Yep.

Dr. Alexis: Angelenos. Mm-hmm. My

Freddie: Angels are safe and sound and all that.

And

Dr. Alexis: the angels.

Freddie: Ah.

Dr. Alexis: So then are we, we're the angel, the Angelenos. Yeah. That's cute. Like you and all the other volunteers. Complete angels. I mean, not everyone sees and experiences observes a, a disaster and thinks, well I gotta do something that's not necessarily everyone. Response or reaction. But you're one of those people.

And so we're incredibly grateful for you for stepping up and contributing in all the different ways that you have. And, and if you wouldn't mind sharing with our listeners, um, a little bit more about, uh, your nonprofit and what you've been able to do out there in LA during, during these wildfires.

Yeah.

Freddie: It's been like, well, yeah. My, uh, nonprofit is uh, a gift from Glenn, and it's named after my father, who was a marine. He passed away in 2016, uh, due to his exposure with Agent Orange. And I, a few months later, I decided to start a nonprofit and [00:07:00] designer because I didn't want other people to suffer and go through what he went through and, and some of the things he told me that he wanted to accomplish and things that he couldn't do.

I try to pick that, uh, mantle of, you know, you know, that thing in Run wasted. So the nonprofit has been here since 2018, which is interesting because it started off as like, okay, we're gonna do this thing. But then the pandemic hit. And during the pandemic we were feeding first responders and paying bills and things of that matter, things of that nature.

And right. When I wanna get back to my mission again, here's another disaster. You know? It ain't something that,

Alex: yeah.

Freddie: So I guess we're just gonna keep doing what we can to help you know, others. And, you know, I, I love it and it's something I wanted to do. I didn't, I didn't expect to do it that soon. I said this year I was gonna do something or do more for my nonprofit.

With my nonprofit. And here we are three days later. Into the new year, you know, three days out the new year, I'm, uh, helping with the fire, you know, efforts, rescue efforts or whatnot. [00:08:00]

Dr. Alexis: And, and you're, you're ready to go. And that, that's the cool thing about your nonprofit, is that you're already established.

So that way when something does happen, like a pandemic, like Global Pandemic or Massive

Alex: Fiery Yeah. Another

Dr. Alexis: unprecedented event that only wildfires happen, you're, you're ready to go.

Freddie: Right? I mean. To say there's an infrastructure in place that we kinda have a brief exaggeration, but we're just prepared to, to handle, you know?

Yeah. Uh,

Freddie: What's needed. And I have great friends and like, you know, such as yourselves and my family that support, you know, whatever's needed, you know, financially and now my church family,

Yeah.

Freddie: They're getting involved in with donations and want to, you know, sweat equity or whatever's needed to help, so.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm just organizing. I seem like I've become some type of a. I don't know, rescue captain here, everyone's calling me and tell, asking me what should I do and this, that, and the other. So

Dr. Alexis: Perfect.

Freddie: I love it. Yeah, it's

Alex: Great. Yeah. I mean, it's one thing, it's one thing to [00:09:00] like see suffering. It's one thing to see people kind of like experience these things.

It's another to kind of like see where the need is, which is a little different, like separate, just to separate yourself just a little bit to gain that objectivity around where is need or where can you help the most. Where have you noticed, like what do you feel like has been most effective right now?

Or what, what do you feel like people are really needing as you're kind of running into people and helping people out?

Freddie: It's interesting, is this very good question, and that's the question that I ask myself every day. Pretty much. Um, when you, when, so the knee jerk reaction is what a media says they need water, they're running outta water, right?

So, you know, you run with 30 cases of water. Then you found, you find out that everyone's running with 30 cases of water and now they don't have, they have more water than the need. And so today I went to Westwood. The other days I've been going to Altadena more of a brown, you know, black community, whatnot.

I don't, I say middle class community. Today I went to Westwood where there's more people in the [00:10:00] Palisades. And the funny thing about it is everyone, no matter what their background is, has the same look on their face. They've lost everything. I was one of the ones that's like, I'm not going over there because they're wealthy.

They, they don't need us. But that's not true. They, everything is gone. And I have a video I'm gonna share. I interviewed this, uh, lady today. She said, I started my business the day before the fire. And people think because I'm in the Palisades, which is true, it's a wealthy area, that we'll be okay. But that's not true.

They don't want to donate or help us because they think we have it. She said, in two weeks I'll be in my car. And so need to answer your question. The need is, immediate need is going to, in about a week or two will be housing. They have enough clothes. Well, medicine is another thing because I, something I hadn't even thought about.

People need insulin.

Yeah.

Freddie: Yeah. And things of that nature. So, you know, it's just so much. There's so much that's needed. There's [00:11:00] not 1, 2, 3, there's not a checklist. It's just different. It's based upon the person and what they lost. You know, someone's 70 years, someone's 90 years old, someone's 10, you know, it's needs across the board.

Like imagine if you just went grocery shopping and you come back and your home is gone. You know, it is just literally, some people just went somewhere and came back and it's like, I can't get in my home every, and my memories are, but I'll give you this, one of the needs that it, that's. I think it's going to be telling and it's the most important need is die shelter.

Number one will be shelter. Number two to me, in my opinion, will be mental health services and therapy. I was speaking to someone with, um, the Red Cross today and they said, man, our research tells us that people don't cover for five to 10 year. And that kind of struck me and I was just like, you know what?

I got it. I got you. And, um, we wanna build our program [00:12:00] based upon the needs. So that was a very good question. So shelter and, um, therapy is where I'm going. That's my angle.

Alex: No, I appreciate that. Like what I, I almost always think of this. Katrina, hurricane Katrina devastated an entire decimated multiple communities across the board.

And if you still go to New Orleans now, it still has areas of which are still affected by Katrina. Wow, I didn't know that 20 years ago. What I vividly remember is my professor, uh, and, and brilliant human being at Cal State Long Beach. Dr. Meyer Adams, she's amazing. But she volunteered tons of time and services to not only help the community, was there a supportive voice and person who's a brilliant therapist, like to help out.

And it was moving and, and it was something I wish she kept going back, like through my program. She kept going back and it stuck with me. I'm like, well, that's still going on and that's still going on and that's still going on. And 20 years later it's still going on. And so when you say five to 10 years, I'm like, yes.

And 'cause it's like if. The [00:13:00] community recovers. That's a part of that healing process. Mm-hmm. But then I also think of like, and the, and your own personal link to that process. And then whatever the other fallout, like the corner store, the places, the memories that you talked about are up in smoke. Yeah.

These are so grief that you don't just recover from, because you don't always realize what you've lost.

Freddie: You don't, you know, I, you guys know, you know, everyone knows that some of these things that I have, you know, especially with the nonprofit attached to my father, I can imagine if I lost his pictures. Or his medals, or the pictures we have of each other, you know, of I have him and you and them together.

And it would be, it would be devastating, you know, or my grandmother, you know, things like that. You know, like, so they said some of these people are 90 years old and they don't wanna start over.

Dr. Alexis: Right.

Freddie: You know,

Dr. Alexis: Start over. At 90. At

Freddie: 90, you know, you have pictures from everything like. So many presidents and so many, and Cree digital, good thing, everything, digital, everything.

You've seen everything and you [00:14:00] have gone to represent each era of, I guess, human evolution of our, you know, modern society and whatnot. And it's gone up, its phone done. And so I just best way to describe this, to give your listeners a feeling of what's going on. And I said this before, I feel like I went to 2000 funerals in one day.

That is the best way to describe this. It's just like, what do you say? You know, sorry for your loss. Sorry for your loss. Sorry for your, it's just 2000 funerals in one day.

Dr. Alexis: Yeah.

Freddie: And yeah, it's, it's really, it's really,

Dr. Alexis: and how, how are you coping as a volunteer? Um, or what? And then if you're not.

Alex: Definitely not wife.

How are you having all the vicarious trauma? 'cause that's a lot to swallow. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Alexis: A lot of people don't really think about the vicarious trauma aspect of it, like mm-hmm. Just observing, just, uh, being there. Um, it has an impact,

Freddie: you know, [00:15:00] whatever I would consider as Micah Daris is not working. I'm not, there's nothing on television that works.

You know, my cousin gave me an Xbox. I love it. It doesn't work. You know, I haven't been to the gym because there's something in the back of my mind that's like, and I just shake this. I went once and it's like, man, you're working out. But there's some, there's a need out there. You know? It's just so hard for me to do certain things and I haven't been eating right.

You know, I first admit, you know, I, I was like everyone else, this is gonna be the year. I'm gonna be a clean eater, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Man, I've had french fries all every day almost. But, uh, you know, I'm not gonna neglect my health because if I'm down then you know that there goes the operation. So,

Dr. Alexis: Right.

I'm

Freddie: going to, um, continue to, uh, you know, kind of force myself into getting back into some of those old habits and, you know, talking with his friends [00:16:00] and one thing that happened and I, I, I kind of wanna share something that's really negative that's been really bothering. Do you, you want me to.

Dr. Alexis: We, yeah, we're all about transparency and on Oh,

Freddie: I was, uh, I said I, I decided to go to a comedy show, so I'm only a laugh.

And Are you sure? This is terrible.

Dr. Alexis: I, I actually think I relate.

Freddie: You remember? You remember? No,

Dr. Alexis: no. I, I think I might relate because I, I've, I've, well in crisis have tried to take a break and go to either a comedy show or like a hockey game. Yep. I had to leave early because I was, I was sitting there and I was watching everyone else enjoy themselves.

Freddie: Hmm.

Dr. Alexis: And I was tearing up. I was like, how is everybody okay right now? You know, like, how is everyone still functioning? Like everything's okay, things are not okay. And I was just so in my head about it. I was like, trying to do the healthy thing for myself, take a break, go out and socialize and try to do something fun.

And I, [00:17:00] I just mentally could not get there. I had to leave and I just started sobbing outside in the parking lot. I was, yeah,

Freddie: well, I'll just tell a story and within, if you guys need me, like I hope I can do it in 30 seconds. So, uh, I'm volunteering earlier that day and I see black, brown and white people and all ethnicities working together and sharing food and, and praying together and trying to get through it together.

That's, that was beautiful. And I'm out there and I'm. Driving an hour and a half people in my community, it's an hour away from me in my community. Say, man, this is great. Let me know what we can do. So everyone's kind of coming together for the most part. So I just, I get home and I'm just restless. I can't, TV doesn't do well, as you said.

You know, as I mentioned earlier, uh, it never really does but fit. So I decided to go to a comedy show around the corner and the timing of it, of the punchline of the joke in my, in my entry. It was just unreal. Hmm. [00:18:00] I walked in on the joke and the comic, she said, dolphins rape. And people said, do you know that?

And they were like, yeah. And then she said, I didn't know dolphins were black. The, and that's what, that was my response out loud. It was a comedy show, so I kind of threw it, it threw me off. And so much so that I kept saying stuff and like a couple comic looked at me was like, yo, man, it's a show. You know, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You know, whatever, blah, blah, blah. So then she got off the stage and she sat in whatever booth they sit in, and then she looked back and she was uncomfortable. She went to the green room. Oh. Um, and one of the other comics got up and I'm not, if I'm not mistaken, I think he said the N word

Dr. Alexis: words

Freddie: and got a call.

Timing is amazing. I waited for him after the simple. The timing is funny. My friend was like, you need to go home 'cause you, you're gonna go to jail. Just go back and deal [00:19:00] with it later. Mm-hmm. You're already emotionally drained. So my point with this is that, you know, all of that, that, and I tried to escape and it was just intensified.

Just other emotions that, and I hadn't shared this too many people, but I went back the next day to go help people. So when you asked me what am I doing?

Yeah.

Freddie: Get into the helping is helping. That's that.

Dr. Alexis: I feel, I feel that too.

Freddie: Yeah. Yeah. That helping yourself, I'll keep you posted on what happens to this dude.

I'll keep you guys that I don't wanna say. Yeah.

Dr. Alexis: Really hard parts is when you're trying, you're trying to do good for yourself. You know, you're, you're making that, that intentional effort to go take a break and to go relax and comedy. You, you hope for the best, you know, when you get into a comedy show.

Yeah. Um, especially if you're already like. Like emotionally drained and heightened at the same time. Mm-hmm. I'm impressed with your ability to walk [00:20:00] away because you knew that that wasn't gonna get any more effective.

Freddie: Yeah.

Dr. Alexis: You know, that situation.

Freddie: Yeah. It, it took a, it took some talking. Yeah. Fair. It did.

And I, I didn't want to intensify about waiting on a person that's different, you know, so it's, it's, it's handled.

Dr. Alexis: And, and, and one of the videos I created, um, that's in our, our YouTube playlist is what happens to a community psychologically when everyone is impacted by a crisis, when everyone is emotionally drained and strained and, and exhausted and, and distressed.

You know, right now we're in the honeymoon stage where everyone's getting along and helping each other out. Eventually that's gonna fizzle and burn out, right? And then people are gonna start. Storming. Mm-hmm. Right. And the, the, the real, the realness of this devastation and, and how long it's gonna take to recover I is going to, is [00:21:00] to, is gonna come to the forefront of people's minds and, and hearts.

And so what you experienced in that moment is what the community and everyone's gonna be on high intensity level at, at

Freddie: also, I believe it 100%.

Dr. Alexis: I'm thinking more, more road rage, more kind of like. You know, and patience and rudeness. Remember like during the pandemic where at first everyone was like being kind and like banging pants and stuff for first responders and then it came to a point where it was like everyone was rude again,

Freddie: like is right now.

Dr. Alexis: Yeah. Worse. Worse than it was before the pandemic. Everyone rooted on edge and, and struggling. Really?

Freddie: Yeah. And I think it'd be bad here if they, the ones that are displaced. I can't get back to their communities because of whatever new developments Yeah. That are going to happen. And now, you know, the Olympics will be here in four years and how they gonna build up and all this stuff.

And, and it's just, you know, I just hope that they being, you know, administrators and administration and government and all this [00:22:00] other stuff and officials, they do these people. Right.

Alex: Yeah.

Freddie: Long. At least give them some rebuild or affordable hou, not a, not even affordable housing. 'cause that has a negative connotation to it.

Lets give, restore them.

Dr. Alexis: Yeah.

Freddie: And some, you know, so

Dr. Alexis: I like that word.

Freddie: Yeah. Restore.

Alex: Yeah. But yeah, I, I couldn't think of a better word than that actually. That was, that was pretty solid. I, I like the idea of restoration. Mm-hmm. You know, 'cause I, we, we go through all these d because you, you go through this grieving process, you then feel then ostracized.

You're then like kind of pushed out of your own place, space, neighborhoods, things like that. Restoration, then he leads to a lot more healing. No, I, I think that's, that's a wonderful concept. I think that's something that wish they should be running with you.

Freddie: Yeah. And that's what, you know, we're gonna do.

So, like I said, we're gonna adopt few families, organize, do what we do, you know, and, and do a family at a time because just dumping a bunch of supplies. Yeah. You just gotta put people up in hotels, you know, like I said, all the way [00:23:00] out here where I am. People have displaced, wanted to get some breakfast, and there's two people in front of me were like, I'm in a hotel here.

You, I was like, wow. Yeah. Let them in their home. National Guard room. Let them in their home.

Dr. Alexis: Yeah. Well, we appreciate you and everything you're doing. How can people get in touch with you? You're not, or you're nonprofit. How can they support.

Freddie: A gift from glen.org? Yeah, so a two Ns, A-G-I-F-T-F-R-O-M-G-L-E-N n.org.

Dr. Alexis: Great. And we'll have that on our webpage as well.

Freddie: So much. Of course. Thank you.

Dr. Alexis: Thank you Fred. Fred, we'll keep in touch. Alright. Do you remember that time when we went to the Kiki? Yeah. I felt so bad because like I, I was struggling emotionally and I didn't wanna, like, and I, I know you needed a break and wanted to like have a good time and so I was like.

So I felt a little like internal, not from you internal pressure to like have a good, have a good night out. And I just wasn't, I just wasn't there. Yeah. And appreciate your patience while I was of course [00:24:00] navigating all the emotions. It's

Alex: now I'm not taking, you need another hockey. I'm gonna go back on my own because I can't take it.

Hockey ups now. That's it. That's your, I'm,

Dr. Alexis: I'm feel emotional taking. You're done, you're done. Of all the sports emotional and I

Alex: just need to watch a game. 'cause I used to play I love hearts.

Dr. Alexis: I know. Exactly. That's why I want you a happy time.

Alex: Yeah.

Dr. Alexis: I'll, I'll be better at some point. That, that's the inconvenient truth about, uh, emotions and re and recovery and healing is that it's not linear.

It's gonna be a storm of a, of, of an emotional rollercoaster. You have highs and lows and it's going happen when it's unexpected and inconvenient.

Alex: Well, and I think a lot of the, but like how do you then create restoration? How do you compare, like, well, how do you build on resilience and recovery? How do you really focus on those things?

And I think a lot of different ways that I process this stuff, uh, I'm a big fan of expression, any version of creative expression. So in for looking to ways to process pain, trauma, hurt, all those different things, loss grief. 'cause this is essentially grief, right? So like. [00:25:00] You're waking up and everything's different.

That's grief. So I think of journaling and I, people do weird on journaling. They're like, dear diary you, if that works for you, great. Yeah. But for me, I'm like, it's a brain dump. It's draw, write, like do scribble, write it upside down and backwards. You know, doodle everywhere with it. I just list, list bullet journal and that stuff is great.

Some

Dr. Alexis: people who are more talented, they could like do poems and whatever.

Alex: Whatever it takes. Like dump it out of your brain, go for it. Yeah. The other thing I like is the version of distraction. So like even like, I love this 'cause we created a whole journal about this stuff. Yeah. Journal absurdities, which is just destructive prompts.

So like, hey, if you were an octopus, what would you want with you? At the bottom of the ocean is a nice distraction from thinking about how I lost this things or how my family's affected or feeling displaced. It's a distraction. Mm-hmm. Be very clear. It's a distress tolerance skill. Yeah. So you're able to regulate emotions by distracting yourself from the moment.

I think that's really important. Mm-hmm. Because you [00:26:00] need a break,

Dr. Alexis: especially when you're in the middle of it and, and you've done everything you possibly can. You need to take a break, um, allow yourself that break. So the distraction techniques are not a long-term fix, therefore the short term in the here and now, just to give you a mental, emotional break from all of the overwhelming chaos.

And so that brain, your general absurdities is such a good option because it's so playful and fun. And. It, it gives you a prompt so you don't have to think about, you know, what am I supposed to be thinking about right now? It tells you what to think about. Sure. In a really playful, creative way. And then it also has mindfulness exercises as well.

So not only are there prompts for you to draw or write or sketch, but there are also like exercises for you to actually go out and do safely, of course. But that's a good one. And. Other ones. Um, the oral health app, I'm on there. I have audio lessons if you do wanna learn how to build up, uh, resiliency or coping skills, I got you there.

But we also have guided [00:27:00] meditations. Yeah. So that's another form of kind of a take a mental break and mentally be somewhere else.

Alex: Well, and last thing I was thinking about, yeah. I'm gonna throw this on there. Because Freddie kinda sure this in my brain, right? The idea is that like how do you process helping others?

And we, we talked a little bit about, about change. How do you help others? This is another place helping others being prepared to do these things. I want, I want the world to be CPR certified because I love CPR and first aid is important, but also mental health certifications like mental health, uh, first aid aid.

If you're interested in it, flag us down. Talk to us about it. Please send us every message about it. We wanna make sure that people are mental health first aid certified, because the more we understand about how things affect us and how we can help others mm-hmm. The better that is. I mean, and the biggest thing is like, you know, how do you sell your own cups So you have that ability to then give to others is and important and even,

Dr. Alexis: yeah.

And so I'm, I'm a mental health. I'm a certified mental health first aid trainer to train other people. Um, [00:28:00] and what I love about it is that a big section of it is self-care for the first aiders. Yeah. That's a part of it. So, um, if you're interested, our link will be and our website

Alex: or just send us messages.

We'll, we're here for you. I don't care. Just send it, send me stuff you want help. We got you. We got you. So yeah, I wanna send Freddie a salad while we're doing it.

Dr. Alexis: I know we, I mean, for volunteers we should like send all of the like healthy, crispy

Alex: food. Not that I'm against, you know, french fries, but

Dr. Alexis: Sound great right then Some selfcare thing.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We will be here again next week. We, uh, live stream our DC radio recordings every Tuesday evening. That's 4:30 PM West Coast, 7:30 PM East Coast time.

Alex: Thank you everybody. Thank you.

Dr. Alexis: Stay

Alex: well.

 

 
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