PASCO COUNTY \u2014 Venezuelan organizers in the Tampa Bay area are hosting a free mental health support gathering Saturday in Tampa for people processing the impact of last month\u2019s earthquake in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
The event, called \u201cCuando nuestro suelo tiembla, nos sostenemos,\u201d or \u201cWhen our ground shakes, we hold on,\u201d in English, will take place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Children\u2019s Board in Tampa.<\/p>\n
Organizers say the gathering is meant to give people a place to grieve together, share what they are experiencing and find support after devastating earthquakes last month have left nearly 4,000 people dead and thousands of injured and missing.<\/p>\n
Denisse Pacheco, a Wesley Chapel resident who moved to the U.S. three years ago from Venezuela, said the days after the earthquake were emotionally difficult as she waited for updates from loved ones in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never think that when you leave your home that it could be your last goodbye,\u201d Pacheco said. \u201cWe never imagine that. You always think you\u2019ll have time to go back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pacheco said her father narrowly escaped a collapsing building, while her mother was trapped inside another building when the earthquake struck.<\/p>\n
Her family survived, but she said watching alerts come in from afar left her feeling unable to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt helpless with every alert that popped up, one worse than the next,\u201d Pacheco said. \u201cAnd I would say, \u2018God help me, I didn\u2019t know how to help.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Pacheco says she wanted to do something to help, and teamed up with others to send diapers, feminine products, bandages and other essential supplies to people affected by the earthquake.<\/p>\n
She said she also realized that Venezuelans in the Tampa Bay area needed support for their mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shared the same sentiment: feelings of guilt, sadness, stress, depression,\u201d Pacheco said.<\/p>\n
Pacheco partnered with social worker Katherine Borja to host the support gathering for the Venezuelan community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese spaces are helpful because they help you be heard and you can hear others,\u201d Borja said. \u201cThe impact this will have will be done in phases and the idea is to be able to connect with others as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Borja said the gathering will include opportunities for people to listen to one another, support each other and take part in breathing exercises.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is to hear each other out,\u201d Borja said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have moments to root for each other, to grow, and breathing exercises.\u201d<\/p>\n
As families continue grieving and searching for answers, organizers say building a support system in Tampa Bay can help people face the pain together.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot feeling alone helps,\u201d Pacheco said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PASCO COUNTY \u2014 Venezuelan organizers in the Tampa Bay area are hosting a free mental health support gathering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3948,571,276,6076,4070,115,135,137,136,4390],"class_list":["post-335919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-health","tag-health","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-lizbeth-gutierrez","tag-mental-health","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}