Published: Jul. 8, 2025 at 4:59 PM CDT
Watch the video on the KKTV 11 News Website.
Porch Light Health’s Chief Clinical Officer Steve Carleton spoke with KKTV 11 News about how to help those struggling after catastrophic flooding in Texas.
Aspen Andrews
I want to thank you for joining us at the 11 Alert Desk today. I’m digital content producer Aspen Andrews, and I am here with Steve Carleton, Chief Clinical Officer at Porch Light Health. And we wanted to hop on a little bit today because as we know, catastrophic flooding has had an immense impact on those in Texas, and even here in Colorado, people are feeling the impacts as well. So Steve, I know you’ve said that you have a personal connection with this tragedy.
Steve Carleton
Yeah. So I grew up in Dallas, Texas, and I’ve spent a lot of time in that Guadalupe River Valley and Hunt. I’m familiar with Camp Mystic, and lots of friends have gone there in the past. Camp Mystic, it’s 100 years old. That camp has been sitting on the Guadalupe River for a long time. A lot of people in my community back home have been directly impacted by this, sadly.
Aspen Andrews
I hope everyone you know are doing okay. When we take a broader look as well, people in Colorado can relate on a lot of levels to this tragedy. So could you go into that a little bit and how people here could be affected by this?
Steve Carleton
The reason there’s been such a significant reaction to this is because A few things. Because there’s so many kids, unfortunately, lost their lives in this. And these were kids recreating. These were kids that their parents dropped them off to go to camp, right? And that’s the safest place on Earth than getting a call that your kids tragically lost their life in a flood, in this freak accident. It not only is affecting those people close to it that have been directly impact and lost their lives or lost loved ones. But we’re seeing that these kinds of things affect the whole country, similar to things like Sandy Hook, right? These unimaginable tragedies that happen, and everybody is just trying to wrap their head around it. If you’re a parent out there and you’ve seen these stories, you can’t help but think about what would that be like if that happened to me or if I were to lose a partner, a friend, or a loved one. It’s had significant ripples.
Aspen Andrews
Yeah. Well, I mean, how do you even cope with losing a child in this tragic way?
Steve Carleton
Losing a child is perhaps the single It’s the most harmful thing for somebody’s mental health and stability. This is something that is very complicated. This is complicated grief. These parents and these people in Texas, not only have they lost a loved one and are grieving that loss, but they’re also having to come to terms with how it happened and how tragic and traumatic this all occurred.
Aspen Andrews
Yeah, it’s It’s terrible. And if you’re a friend or a support system to someone who’s dealing with a tragedy like this, what do you say to them?
Steve Carleton
Yeah. So it’s less about what you say to people, and it’s more about how you show up. Don’t think about the words you say. That’s less important. Obviously, you don’t want to give platitudes, They’re in a better place, these types of things. Those are not helpful. What What is helpful is acts of kindness and showing up, right? Dropping dinner off at the door, saying, Let’s go have coffee next Thursday. In my own experiences, people sending paper plates and utensils, people sending toilet paper, paper towels, these things that are just part of daily life and just making things a little easier. Those small acts of kindness, they go such a long way, much further than giving condolences and telling people to reach out if they need anything, because the reality is they’re not going to reach out, and they’re in a desperate state. The more you can just proactively support and find ways to help them is better.
Aspen Andrews
Yeah, that’s some great advice. And for people here in Colorado, where can they go if they want to learn some more about how to cope with this and just how to deal with everything?
Steve Carleton
Yeah, Yeah, and I think a couple more things on the response to this. I’ve spent some time talking about that direct impact, if you’ve directly lost a loved one or a friend or someone like that. But the most common reaction when things like this happen that are unimaginable, that are so outside of the norm, they’re just devastating, these acts of God, like this has happened. It’s really common for people to avoid it, right? So for people to bury their head in the sand, not think about it, not talk about it. It’s also common that people dive in headfirst and they absorb just story after story, news clip after news clip, real after real, They’re overindulging in the horrific nature of what’s happened there. And one of the most common reactions to that is that people start to do this should have, would have, could have thing. And And they can start to have these overreactive responses to this, starting to point fingers, blame, figure out who did something wrong that led to this. That’s a really common reaction because people want to feel safe. And if you blame someone, then people think that that’s making them safe again.
Steve Carleton
If I blame someone, it’s like saying, this will never happen to me because where I send my kids, they do X, Y, Z. That’s really not a very helpful response or way to cope with this. The bigger conversation about grief and loss. In Colorado, we have Judy’s House for Kids. And if you’re an adult, there’s lots of great resources on psychology today. You can search on there specifically for types of therapy and grief being one of them. Find individual therapists, find different groups that support that specifically with other people going through similar experiences. And as always, if that grief has turned into a substance use problem, which is common, it’s substance use, unfortunately, is Please, unfortunately, it’s a common way people deal with grief and loss, and when that becomes a problem, you also need somewhere to turn, and Portesight Health can be a resource there.
Aspen Andrews
Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you coming to talk to us a little bit about this. Once again, I know so many people across the country have been impacted, so I appreciate you coming to just talk a little bit about what we can do to help cope and help our friends and family cope.
Steve Carleton
Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks, Aspen.
