It's been 29 years to this day that Director, Producer, Editor and Filmmaker Eric Christiansen survived the 1990 Painted Cave Fire in Santa Barbara, California. The fire destroyed over 400 homes, including Eric's, and burned over 5,000 acres, devastating many lives.  Eric talks about how he turned to alcohol and drugs to cope with the aftermath initially. But then he later realized that there was a bigger picture to just his own personal trauma.   Since then, he's been creating movies with messages of resilience and inspiration. Although he's won multiple awards for his films, he prefers to call himself a "messenger" because he says surviving that fire has taught him that his purpose now is to not just connect with survivors and relay their stories but to show that there's hope.

The release of this episode coincides not only with the 29th anniversary of The Painted Cave Fire in Santa Barbara but also with National PTSD Awareness Day.  This episode--and really all episodes on The Inspire Cafe podcast--are dedicated to spreading awareness about PTSD and mental health.

Mentioned in this Episode:

• UnMasking Hope

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