Eric Christiansen on his experience with Trauma & Recovery Mentorship

TW // Trauma, Addiction "I could relate to them, and they opened up to me with their stories of survival. I decided then that this was my calling. I would make films chronicling recovery from trauma beginning with a documentary about the fire that had wiped the slate clean for me. I wrote and directed Faces in the Fire and won my first Emmy. Then the National Institute for Mental Health began using it to debrief survivors of natural disasters. My film was helping people! I had found a purpose. That’s a huge gift." It’s been 29 years since my guest lost all of his worldly possessions in the Painted Cave fire. To be exact, it was June 27, 1990. He calls it his “ground zero.” The fire had destroyed 450 homes and human life in its wake. Seemingly a disaster that he would never recover from, the fire turned out to be one of the greatest gifts he could ever receive. At the time, however, my guest wasn’t quite feeling so blessed. He turned to drugs and alcohol to bury his sorrows and mask his pain. Finally, he sought help, and through divine and human intervention, he became clean and sober. Eric Christiansen, a filmmaker, and a Seven-time Southwestern Region Emmy Award recipient, also received an International Monitor Award for Best Director and Silver and a Gold Award from the Houston International Film Festival. Eric rose from the ashes of his own trauma to make a career chronicling survivors of devastating life events with a focus on their resilience in the face of adversity and their ability to find hope again to heal. In this episode, Eric shared his story and how his movies are helping people with their traumas.