When Katharine Hart’s family was evacuated during the LA fires in January, they didn’t expect to never see their Altadena home again. “We all thought we would be back, so we packed for the next day of school,” said Hart, 18. “We didn’t think our town would be gone.”
To help young fire survivors heal, nonprofit Outward Bound Adventures is taking Altadena teens on camping trips in the mountains just north of their hometown. They also meet every Wednesday at John Muir High School to share their grief and experiences. “I’ve heard the youth say, ‘I feel peace when I’m here. I feel like I can be myself and not have to hide how I’m actually feeling right now,'” said Outward Bound Adventures development coordinator Brandon Hammerli.
Their inaugural weekend camping trip in April brought five students to the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles National Forest to foster kinship and connection. The students did group activities like painting pictures of their old homes, naming their emotions and writing about their identities. “One of the leads in this group led us in breathing exercises, letting out our anger, our feelings and our emotions,” Hart said. “That was really good to just have that peace and reflection.”
As Altadena rebuilds, Outward Bound Adventures hopes to keep bringing students to the mountains every month. “My hope is that with this program, we can have them take that experience — the destruction, but also the life — and use that to grow what’s going to be a new Altadena,” Hammerli said.
Watch the video above to learn more about how Outward Bound Adventures is helping Altadena teens heal.
