SALEM, Ore. – The holiday season can be an emotional time, especially for disaster survivors. Feeling sad, stressed or overwhelmed during times like this is normal. Luckily help is just a phone call, and it doesn’t cost a thing.
The Safe+Strong Helpline is available for both children and adults who are struggling with stress, anxiety or other disaster-related depression-like symptoms. For help, call 800-923-4357 or visit safestrongoregon.org/mental-emotional-health. This is a free service provided by the Oregon Health Authority and Portland-based nonprofit agency Lines for Life.
Adults and children having negative thoughts or feelings, can also contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Disaster Distress Helpline at 800-985-5990 (Spanish Press 2), or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 (for Spanish text “Hablanos” to 66746). This national hotline is toll-free, multilingual, and confidential, offering crisis support to all residents in the United States and its territories.
For more information about who is most at risk for emotional distress from wildfires and to find related resources, visit https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline.
Counselors can also provide information about recognizing emotional distress and its effects, coping tips and referrals to other call centers for more support.
To view an accessible video about crisis counseling with closed captioning and American Sign Language interpretation visit https://youtu.be/mrJN1CRBxfE.
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Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-3362 (TTY 800-462-7585). Those who use a Relay service such as a videophone, InnoCaption or CapTel should update FEMA with their assigned number for that service. They should be aware phone calls from FEMA may come from an unidentified number. Multilingual operators are available. (Press 2 for Spanish)
Disaster survivors affected by the Oregon wildfires and straight-line winds can also get personalized mitigation advice to repair and rebuild safer and stronger from a FEMA Mitigation Specialist. For information on how to rebuild safer and stronger or to inquire as to your new flood risk following a fire near you, email FEMA-R10-MIT@fema.dhs.gov, a FEMA Hazard Mitigation specialist will respond survivor inquiries.
Follow FEMA Region 10 on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest updates and visit fema.gov for more information.
FEMA's mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters.