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The Preparedness Advisory grew from first-hand experience helping Marin communities prepare — and a search for one practical resource that covered the whole household

Basically after spending years working in Mill Valley & Marin County, educating and training the community on disaster preparedness, my co-founder Leah Curtis and I repeatedly saw that residents genuinely wanted to be better prepared, but often weren’t sure where to start. We also struggled to find one practical resource that brought all the different elements of household preparedness together — not just emergency supplies, but communication, evacuation, important documents, pets, children, older adults, caregivers and recovery.

That experience eventually led us to create The Preparedness Advisory.

We’ve just launched a free 10-minute Household Preparedness Assessment that helps people understand what they already have in place and where there may be gaps. We’ve also created a personalized preparedness report, a comprehensive 38-page Resource Guide, and one-to-one consultations for households wanting more individual support.

Although the service is available more widely, its roots are very much in Marin, and much of what we’ve created has been shaped by what we learned working directly with Marin communities. 

I’ve included a short press release below with some more information. I’d be very happy to talk with you about the project, why we created it, and some of the preparedness challenges we encountered repeatedly in our work with local households.And, of course, I’d love for you to try the free assessment yourself — I’d be very interested to hear what you think. Take care and more importantly I would love to hear how YOU are doing!

After years working directly with Marin County communities on emergency preparedness and resilience, Elaine Wilkinson and Leah Curtis repeatedly encountered the same problem: people wanted to be better prepared, but often didn’t know where to start.

They also struggled to find one practical resource that brought the many different aspects of household preparedness together in one place.

“There is a lot of excellent preparedness information available, but it is often spread across different organizations and resources,” says Wilkinson. “Emergency supplies are important, but preparedness is also about communication, evacuation, planning, pets, children, older adults, caregivers and the individual needs of your household. We wanted to bring those pieces together.”

That experience led Wilkinson and Curtis to create The Preparedness Advisory, a new service designed to make preparedness more personal, practical and manageable for everyday households.

At its heart is a free 10-minute Household Preparedness Assessment, which looks beyond the traditional emergency kit and helps people identify what they already have in place and where there may be gaps.

Households wanting more detailed guidance can purchase a Personalized Household Preparedness Report, providing an analysis of their assessment results, tailored recommendations and a prioritized action plan.

The founders also created a comprehensive 38-page Household Preparedness Resource Guide, with practical checklists, worksheets and planning tools covering emergency supplies, household emergency plans, pets, children, older adults and caregivers. The guide is also available separately for people who prefer to work through preparedness independently.

For households wanting more individual support, one-to-one preparedness consultations provide an opportunity to discuss their particular circumstances, priorities and questions with a preparedness professional.

“Preparedness isn’t one-size-fits-all,” says Curtis. “A family with young children has different considerations from someone living alone, caring for an older relative or needing to evacuate with pets. We wanted to create resources that recognize that.”

For Wilkinson, the approach reflects lessons learned working directly with communities in Marin.

“We want to take preparedness out of the too-hard box. You don’t have to do everything at once. Understanding what you’ve already done, identifying your most important gaps and taking a few practical steps is a very good place to start.”

The aim of The Preparedness Advisory is simple: to help everyday households become better prepared, one manageable step at a time.

The Household Preparedness Assessment is free to complete through The Preparedness Advisory.

Best wishes,
Elaine Wilkinson
Co-Founder
The Preparedness Advisory
info@thepreparednessadvisory.com

Media enquiries:
Elaine Wilkinson
Co-Founder, The Preparedness Advisory
info@thepreparednessadvisory.com