Book explores the trauma of losing everything in a disaster, how to survive the immediate aftermath and finding the strength to start a new chapter in life.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, August 9, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Evacuated yet once again in the face of a raging wildfire, author and psychologist Dr. Noelle Nelson grabbed her dogs, laptop, her mother’s jewelry and drove off, expecting to return as she had three times before to a smoky but intact home. Not this time. Her home had burned to the ground. She had nothing but the clothes on her back and the little she took with her.

Her experience is similar to countless others who suffer catastrophic loss each year. It prompted her to write Phoenix Rising - Surviving Catastrophic Loss: Fires, Floods, Hurricanes and Tornadoes (Amazon). The book explores the trauma of losing all your possessions in a disaster, the photos and memorabilia of a lifetime, how to survive the immediate aftermath and find the strength to start a new chapter in life.

"Living through the consequences of the destruction of your home by fire, flood, tornado or any other devastating disaster is a challenge that very few of us are prepared for," says Nelson. "Somehow you have to rebuild, literally from the ground up, not just your home but your entire world. But how? How to get past the agony of all that was lost? How do you summon up the courage and mental strength to move forward when everything inside of you wants to give in to despair and depression?"

Nelson's home was lost in the 2018 Woolsey fire that burned 96,949 acres, destroyed 1,643 structures, forced 295,000 evacuations and killed three people in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Since then, natural disasters have increased. According to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), in 2020 there were 22 separate weather and climate disasters in the U.S. that each resulted in $1 billion or more in damage--the most since records began being kept in 1980.

"The biggest take-away from my experience is that though I had nothing, as in 'no thing' in reality, I had everything. Namely, I discovered how wonderful people are, and how miracles abound as long as you stay connected not just to your family, but to your community, to your friends, and allow in the kindness of total strangers, " says Nelson. “That was what really blew me away. The astonishing generosity and compassion of perfect strangers. It’s what helped me through that first year and then some.”

Nelson says there will plenty of self-pity and misery after a catastrophe--that's normal. It's still something she experiences from time to time. But, she says that despite the pain, you have to be willing to create a new story for yourself, one that can sustain you in the years ahead.

Nelson's book looks at what to expect emotionally, physically, and mentally during the early days and months after a catastrophe, where and how to ask for help in the midst of the shock and grief, and how, despite a life-changing event, we can rise from the ashes, stronger and better than before.

Says Nelson, "My hope is that sharing my story and what I experienced will help others get through similar horrific events."

Phoenix Rising is available in paperback, audio and on Kindle.

Diane Rumbaugh
Rumbaugh Public Relations
+1 805-407-1888
diane@rumbaughpr.com