When Social Worker Stephanie Barnard learned that one of her high school classmates died in the central Texas flooding, she felt compelled to find a way to help her fellow Texans. “That’s how it was for many of us,” Stephanie says. “Even if we didn’t live in the Hill Country, this state is still our home.” When she heard about the opportunity to volunteer with our team, she applied immediately, and within a few days, Stephanie was on the ground, providing behavioral health support to flood-affected communities.
“Sometimes our response was just wellness checks—handing somebody a bottle of water, getting somebody something to eat, sitting with them and just chatting,” she remembers. “Other times, asking, ‘How are you doing?’ would evoke a response where people were moved to tears. We were there to let them know that they were not alone.”
The July 2025 floods that swept through the Texas Hill Country claimed at least 135 lives, including dozens of children—making it one of the deadliest floods in the US in the last 100 years. Many of the affected children and youth were at Camp Mystic, located along the Guadalupe River, which surged more than 26 feet in the flooding. Heavy rainfall hampered search-and-rescue operations for the more than 170 people who were reported missing.
Like many members of our flood-response team, Stephanie spent a lot of time with community members who lived along the river, including first responders. “We would sit and talk with the volunteers,” Stephanie says. “Our job was to check in on them. Their hard work and determination were so inspiring, but they were so exhausted emotionally and physically. I don’t think they’ve really been able to stop to feel and recover themselves.”
During International Medical Corps’ response, communities of helpers thrived around hubs like The Hunt Store, near the Guadalupe River, where the flood-affected would meet to connect while seeking supplies and services. Stephanie’s admiration for these volunteers is clear—as is her concern for their well-being. “The helpers need help as well,” she says. “It’s going to take their community support systems to help each of these volunteers because of what they’ve experienced just by being there to help.”
Stephanie is heartened by the first responders and their resilience. “I was reminded, in a very powerful way, of how resilient these communities are,” she says. “In Menard, I would see people volunteering to give out school supplies or shoes for children. And then later, I saw those same people trying to get assistance for themselves, because they had major damage to their home.” For her, it’s a powerful reminder that “these systems are so intertwined and essential to their survival, especially in times like this.” She says “it was just incredible to see—heartbreaking as well. I don’t want to downplay any of the hardships that they’ve endured—but the fact that they are coming together is just so incredible to see.”
In addition to the mental health challenges, Stephanie encountered other harms from the floods that were harder to see. For example, many of the flood-affected people have limited options to leave their flood-damaged homes. “So now they’re living inside a home with mold,” Stephanie says. She only realized the extent of this damage during her time engaging with community members. “You often can’t know those stories unless you talk to the individual,” she says. “It was far more significant than I even realized. And it was already significant.”
Today, we continue to support our partners in Texas with their ongoing relief efforts. We are partnering with Frontera Healthcare Network—a federally qualified health center that provides healthcare in Brady, Fredericksburg, Junction, Mason and Menard, the communities at the center of the disaster—to operate a mobile clinic that delivers mental and medical health services, as well as distributes relief supplies such as hygiene kits and clothing for children. While our team was deployed in Texas providing direct assistance, we provided Frontera with 820 individual hygiene kits and 670 wound-care kits, and provided behavioral health support to more than 11,000 people.