The Greater Houston Healing Collaborative Provides Long-Term Trauma and Grief Support for Texas Hill Country School Teachers, Staff, and Parents Coping with Effects of July 4th Guadalupe River Flood
NEWS RELEASE
HOUSTON and HUNT, Texas (Aug. 27, 2025) – Now that students all over the state of Texas have returned to their classrooms, parents and teachers are faced with questions and concerns related to the catastrophic July 4th Guadalupe River flood in Kerr County. Trained trauma and grief facilitators with The Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center (the Institute) can help.
Responding with a community-based psychosocial trauma and grief support program, the Institute is working with school leaders, parents, and staff at the Hunt School who are coping with the effects of the catastrophic flood. These workshops are equipping adults with mind-body skills that are accessible and practical, enabling them to help children to succeed in school after the flood.
Just days after July 4th, the Institute’s leadership mobilized the Greater Houston Healing Collaborative (GHHC) to respond in person in Kerr County. The anchor program in the Institute’s Center for Body, Spirit, and Mind, GHHC, is led by experienced and certified facilitators. This program provides free trauma and grief support to teachers and administrative staff, children, and parents.
“We have been welcomed in the community in Kerr County since just days after the devastating flood event. Our community-based psychosocial disaster response starts by meeting the community where they are, and we are neighbors responding to neighbors. We are providing workshops and support groups both in person and virtually. We will ultimately train local community members in mind-body skills, so it becomes a reinvestment in local support resources, much like we did after Hurricane Harvey in Houston,” said Leah Adams Pruitt, vice president of engagement for the Institute.
Adams Pruitt is certified with the Center for Mind-Body Medicine and has been facilitating grief and trauma support for over 15 years in community-based settings and at the Institute for nearly six years. She leads the Kerr County response team with Gwen Brehm, M.Ed., LPC. Brehm is the co-chair of the GHHC and a faculty member with the Center for Mind-Body Medicine.
Formed after Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the GHCC offers psychosocial care, which addresses an individual’s psychological, emotional, and social needs with the purpose of improving mental health and well-being after a crisis. The GHCC takes a public health approach to teaching evidence-based self-care skills. These empowering skills include soft-belly breathing, movement, drawing, writing, guided imagery, and more that anyone can learn, practice, and share. This collaborative was formed with training from the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, from where GHHC leadership and facilitators are trained and certified.
Adams Pruitt added: “For the people of Hunt, Ingram, Kerrville, and other affected communities, the tragedy that resulted when the Guadalupe River flooded on July 4th is an extremely heavy burden on schools and churches – one that is accompanied by great pain and also great heart. It is especially important to help children thrive when adults are doing their best to cope and move forward themselves. Our team is sharing practical, hands-on skills that are accessible – and we are offering a new way to help families and children begin the healing process while they move through unimaginable grief and shock.”
The Institute and GHHC facilitators recently conducted an in-person workshop for over 50 administrators, faculty, and staff of The Hunt School in Hunt, Texas. Additionally, they met with more than 50 parents sharing about how trauma impacts the body, and resources to support their children through grief. In such workshops, facilitators share resources on children's trauma, books on speaking with children about death, and mental health referrals.
Adams Pruitt said that the Institute is working with schools and churches across Kerr County, offering community care workshops, hybrid and virtual support groups, and “train the trainer” style community training as grief and trauma response programs move beyond the immediate crisis response period.
Leaders from the Institute are available to address these and other near-term and long-term needs:
Workshops and support groups sharing mind-body practices for grief and trauma support
Delivering trauma-informed tools and strategies for resilience – such as breathing techniques, physical movement to increase energy flow, and group sharing of thoughts, feelings, and experiences
Resources for families to access care and support children who are grieving and traumatized
For more information or to schedule a conversation with a trained facilitator, please visit spiritualityandhealth.org/ghhcresponse2025. Or contact Leah Adams Pruitt at 713-797-0600, extension 3, or ladams@ish-tmc.org.
About the Center for Body, Spirit, and Mind
The Institute’s Center for Body, Spirit, and Mind is dedicated to helping people integrate all aspects of themselves, focusing on underserved populations and spiritual and healthcare professionals. CBSM programs seek to cultivate whole-person health through mind-body practices and spiritual exploration. The anchor program of this center is the Greater Houston Healing Collaborative, which addresses the psychosocial needs of communities through small groups and workshops centered on the awareness of how the body, spirit, and mind are connected. Additional programs in this center include private and public collaboration with organizations and institutions.
About the Institute
The Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center is an independent, interfaith organization that has championed whole-person care since its founding in 1955. A founding member of the Texas Medical Center, the Institute has become a global leader at the intersection of spirituality, health, and community well-being. For seven decades, it has trained and empowered healthcare professionals, faith leaders, and community members to integrate spiritual care into health settings.
The Institute for Spirituality and Health's mission is to enhance well-being by exploring the relationship between spirituality and health. It advances this mission through education, research, and direct service programs, guided by its four centers of excellence: the Rabbi Samuel E. Karff Center for Healthcare Professionals, the Center for Body, Spirit, and Mind, the Center for End-of-Life and Aging, and the Center for Faith and Public Health.
For more information about the Institute, visit https://www.spiritualityandhealth.org/.
Media Contact:
Laura Pennino, Senior PR Consultant for The Institute for Spirituality and Health at the Texas Medical Center
mobile: 713-419-1776 | email: lp@penninoandpartners.com