New study of 115 Eaton and Palisades wildfire survivors finds emotional distress, displacement, and financial strain persist more than a year later — findings that directly shaped a free, trauma-informed AI-enabled recovery navigator now entering beta testing

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- More than a year and a half after the Eaton and Palisades fires tore through Los Angeles County, many survivors remain locked in the long-tail of recovery, rebuilding homes, finances, and a sense of stability. Today, The After Collective, a tech-for-good nonprofit at the intersection of mental health and climate resilience, announced the beta launch of its Disaster Recovery Coach, a free, trauma-informed AI-enabled tool built to accompany and empower disaster survivors and help them navigate the long and complicated path to recovery. The announcement coincides with the release of new research, drawn from wildfire survivors, that directly shaped the tool.

The need is accelerating. The United States recorded 23 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2025 alone, according to Climate Central.[1] Globally, the World Economic Forum projects that climate disasters could contribute to 14.5 million deaths, $12.5 trillion in economic losses, and more than 2 billion healthy life years lost by 2050.[2] Yet as disasters grow more frequent and severe, the mental health infrastructure meant to support survivors cannot keep pace. The World Health Organization estimates more than 1 billion people worldwide live with a mental health condition, against a global median of just 13 mental health workers for every 100,000 people.[3] The After Collective is focused on this gap: the long, under-resourced tail of recovery after emergency response ends.

The findings, published in a new white paper, "From Overwhelm to Agency: What Disaster Survivors Want from AI-Enabled Recovery Support," draw on surveys and interviews with 115 survivors of the 2025 Eaton and Palisades wildfires conducted with Stanford University School of Medicine. The objective was to better understand the long-term disaster recovery experience ahead of co-designing a practical solution with survivors. Among the findings: 67% of survivors remained displaced 12–16 months after the fires. Seventy-three percent named emotional or mental health stress as their greatest recovery challenge, ahead of insurance and rebuilding paperwork (61%) and financial strain (52%). Nearly a quarter of survivors said they wanted mental health support but had been unable to access it, and 30% rated their emotional wellbeing as "poor" or "very poor."

In interviews, survivors repeatedly described recovery as feeling like a "second full-time job," a relentless grind of paperwork, deadlines, and decisions layered on top of grief and trauma, often while navigating agencies and systems that seemed to have already moved on. Researchers point to 'fire brain,' the cognitive exhaustion and executive dysfunction that trauma exposure can cause, as a key driver: recovery demands sustained attention and decision-making at precisely the moment survivors' capacity for both is most impaired. Many described wanting a single trusted "navigator" to help sequence tasks, track deadlines, and prevent recovery from slipping through the cracks.

The research also offers a rare, data-backed look at how disaster survivors feel about artificial intelligence. Three-quarters of participants had prior experience using AI tools, and 69% said they were interested in an AI-powered recovery coach, with no significant difference in age or gender, challenging common assumptions about who is open to this kind of support. But interest came with clear conditions: survivors' top concerns were accuracy (81%), data privacy (64%), and the loss of human connection (49%), and 68% said having a human in the loop remained important to them.

"Survivors told us, over and over, that recovery is a second full-time job, one nobody trained them for, and one that keeps going long after the cameras leave," said Adrienne Heinz, Ph.D., co-founder and executive director of The After Collective and a clinical research psychologist at Stanford University School of Medicine who spent 15 years at the VA National Center for PTSD. "This survivor-centered research gave us a clear picture of what real support needs look like on the ground."

Grounded in Psychological First Aid and Skills for Psychological Recovery, the same evidence-based frameworks used by FEMA and Red Cross, the Disaster Recovery Coach delivers trauma-informed emotional support alongside practical help with personalized resource curation and recovery tasks like insurance claims, aid applications, and rebuilding paperwork. It works with survivors in bite-sized steps, informed by the cognitive neuroscience of how trauma affects memory and information processing, and is accessible by text message, requiring no app download, account creation, or cost to the user. The tool is currently in closed beta with a group of survivors, with plans to expand to a broader cohort and reach general availability in late 2026.

"We didn't want to build another chatbot," said Abhi Jha, co-founder and chief technical officer of The After Collective. "We built a tool grounded in clinical science, shaped by the survivors it's meant to serve, with guardrails for accuracy and privacy built in from day one. What disaster survivors are up against is overwhelming, and technology is a meaningful way to return their sense of agency."

The After Collective was founded on the belief that access to trauma-informed recovery support should not depend on income, geography, or privilege. The organization's long-term vision is a Disaster Recovery Coach that works across languages and platforms, reduces stigma around help-seeking, and is scalable to reach communities recovering from wildfires, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes anywhere in the world. As climate-driven disasters grow more frequent and more costly, The After Collective sees this kind of accessible, always-on recovery infrastructure as an urgent and necessary complement to existing emergency response systems.

The Disaster Recovery Coach was developed with support from OpenAI and Direct Relief, and in ongoing research collaboration with Stanford University School of Medicine. The full white paper, "From Overwhelm to Agency: What Disaster Survivors Want from AI-Enabled Recovery Support," is available now at theaftercollective.org/research, along with a growing library of survivor-submitted advice at theaftercollective.org/resources/survivor-advice.

About The After Collective

The After Collective is a nonprofit advancing the future of disaster recovery through free, ethically responsible AI-enabled tools that help communities move from crisis to long-term resilience and healing. The After Collective was co-founded by Adrienne Heinz, Ph.D., a clinical research psychologist at Stanford University School of Medicine and a National Science Foundation GeoCAFE Climate & Health Scholar. Dr. Heinz spent 15 years at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD creating digital tools for trauma that expand the public mental health safety net. She also brings lived experience of disaster, having weathered repeated Northern California mega-fires and worked to support her community in their wake. Her co-founder, Abhi Jha, brings extensive experience in digital health and AI-based product development.

Grounded in clinical research and lived experience, The After Collective envisions a future in which AI-enabled recovery tools are responsibly integrated into official disaster response systems, helping communities recover more rapidly, equitably, and resiliently from climate-driven disasters. Learn more at theaftercollective.org.

SOURCES

[1] Climate Central, "U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters in 2025" (2025)

[2] World Economic Forum, "Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Human Health" (January 2024)

[3] World Health Organization, "Over a Billion People Living with Mental Health Conditions — Services Require Urgent Scale-Up" (September 2025)

Media Contact

Courtney Cochran, The After Collective, 1 (707) 395-5148, hello@studiosoif.com, https://www.theaftercollective.org/

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