Laura Klivans

I'm a community health reporter at KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. You can also hear my work on NPR, PRI, BBC, Here & Now, and Reply All. Before getting hooked on audio, I worked in education, leading groups of high school and college youth to places like Bangladesh, Peru and Guatemala. One of my favorite jobs was teaching on the Thai-Burmese border, where I worked with immigrants and refugees. I have a master’s in journalism from U.C. Berkeley, a master’s in education from Harvard, and an undergraduate degree from Northwestern. I teach audio at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Articles

How a story about childhood trauma in Paradise became one of community trauma

A reporter set out to discover why trauma rates were so high in the community of Paradise, Calif. Then the deadliest wildfire in state history destroyed the town.

Environmental Health

Mental Health

Community Safety

Sabrina Hanes and her daughter, Aroara, stay with friends in Chico following their evacuation from their home in Paradise during

Children & Families

Mental Health & Trauma

Community & Public Health

Overcoming a Lifetime of Trauma, Then Facing a New One: Wildfire

Reporter Laura Klivans followed Sabrina Hanes through her daily routine in Paradise last summer, to learn how she’s developed resilience. She caught up with Hanes after the fire to find out what happens next.

Mental Health

Community Safety

After a very difficult upbringing and early adulthood, Sabrina Hanes is doing everything she can to overcome the trauma she expe

Health Equity & Social Justice

Environment & Climate

Children & Families

Trauma Before and After the Camp Fire

As many Paradise residents work to piece their lives back together they have the added weight of trauma from the Camp Fire.

Environmental Health

Mental Health

A June 2018 photo of Butte Creek Canyon from the road connecting Chico to Paradise. Much of this canyon has burned. (Laura Kliva

Children & Families

Community & Public Health

Paradise remembered by those who called it home

Reporter Laura Klivans visited Paradise this summer for her reporting on childhood trauma. All the places she visited have now burned down. She takes a moment to look back.

Mental Health

Community Safety

The site of Sabrina Hanes' home on Nov. 13, 2018. (Anne Wernikoff/KQED)

Community & Public Health

Environment & Climate

PHOTOS: Paradise, Before and After the Camp Fire

Photos from Paradise, California, before and after the most devastating fire in the state's history largely destroyed the town.

Environmental Health

Community Safety

Health Equity & Social Justice

Children & Families

Overcoming Childhood Trauma: How Parents and Schools Work to Stop the Cycle

This story was produced as a project for the USC Center for Health Journalism’s California Fellowship....

Poverty and Class

Mental Health

Sabrina Hanes is just 33, but has the medical record of someone twice her age. She recently learned these issues may be linked t

Community & Public Health

Children & Families

Childhood Trauma Can Mean Early Death. This California Mom Wants to Beat the Odds

Emotional neglect, physical abuse, divorce, a household riven by addiction — science shows that traumas like these in childhood cause poorer health later in life, both mentally and physically.

Environmental Health

Mental Health

Community Safety