Healing and hope after school shootings

Healing and hope after school shootings – The Denver Post 1 of 3 https://www.denverpost.com/2013/12/13/healing-and-hope-after-sc... OPINION Healing and hope after school shootings Connecticut State Police lead a line of children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14, 2012, after a shooting at the school. (AP Photo/Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks, File) By THE DENVER POST | [email protected] | The Denver Post UPDATED: June 3, 2016 at 12:19 p.m. 9/10/24, 10:26 AM Healing and hope after school shootings – The Denver Post 2 of 3 https://www.denverpost.com/2013/12/13/healing-and-hope-after-sc... In 1999, my son survived the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, where two students killed 13 and wounded 26 before taking their own lives in the library. As a result of the tragic loss in our community, I became committed to helping others who might face tragedy elsewhere. I pursued a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies so that I could research the impact of trauma on survivors and to learn what has helped them experience healing and hope. When a school is attacked and children slain, the world suddenly becomes a darker, more ominous place. Last December, the people of Newtown, Conn., were thrown into a realm of uncertainty and despair when the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary claimed 26 innocent lives. Families of the murdered children and educators, as well as survivors and their families, have completed the most difficult year of their lives. With its painful circuit of days, a year’s worth of holidays, rituals and should-havebeen birthday celebrations have passed. Many hope that after the first anniversary, things will be better. Often this is not the case. Trauma is, by definition, a life-shattering experience, and reclaiming life in its aftermath is hard work. In spite of the challenges, many people transform their loss into personal growth, blend their trauma-experience into their own personal history, and recreate worldviews based on an awareness of the loss and a renewed appreciation for living. Many find a greater sense of purpose and become committed to making a positive difference in the world. Some of the student survivors at Columbine have told me that they turned to helping professions — teaching, counseling, medicine, disaster prevention, law enforcement, search and rescue, etc. — because they wanted to be of service. Most survivors demonstrate a heightened empathy for those who suffer. Some take on non-profit work devoted to issues like school safety, anti-bullying, mental health and character development. Others turn to political activism, lobbying for gun control. Trauma itself can be isolating. Indeed, repairing the damage from a traumatic life experience is a personal journey. However, it is rarely completed without the genuine, caring support of others — family, therapists, social workers, clergy and strangers who survived similar events. They all can help people reconnect with a sense of self and of belonging to a larger community. 9/10/24, 10:26 AM Healing and hope after school shootings – The Denver Post 3 of 3 https://www.denverpost.com/2013/12/13/healing-and-hope-after-sc... For many at Columbine, recovery was made possible through the support of people who had learned from their experience with trauma. Caring souls who had survived other horrors — the Holocaust, the Paducah school shootings, and others — used their experience to help our school by offering their support. Their acts of kindness modeled, for me, the unbelievable fact that transcending this tragedy was possible. They were the embodiment of hope, and their mere presence gave me strength. I have recently joined with a family from Sandy Hook, Dave and Carly Posey — whose children were exposed to that school assault — to start a non-profit foundation. The Sandy Hook-Columbine Cooperative will seek to promote awareness of the needs of those impacted by trauma and to aid their recovery in the aftermath. After the first Sandy Hook anniversary is marked, and the media vans roll on to other crises, the tragedy will remain a part of the collective lives of those associated with the shooting in Newtown. Carolyn Mears is an adjunct faculty member at the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver. Originally Published: December 13, 2013 at 10:08 a.m.  Around the Web 2013  December  13 9/10/24, 10:26 AM