Mental Health Partners presents more strategies for coping with trauma in wake of Boulder shooting
May 7—As time passes since 10 people were killed in a mass shooting in South Boulder, Mental Health Partners is encouraging people to continually watch themselves and others who may be dealing with grief so the healing process can continue.
"I want to be clear about something and that is we don't really get over trauma," said Janine D'Anniballe, a licensed psychologist and a nationally recognized expert in traumatic stress, who serves as director of trauma services at Mental Health Partners. "I don't love to use the words, 'Oh you know I'm just going to get back to normal and recover' because we never get back to how it was before. It will be a part of us. It will be a part of our community forever. But we can bounce back. We can bounce back and engage with life again."
Mental Health Partners on Thursday hosted a second free virtual event to discuss ways people can cope with trauma after the Boulder shooting. About 50 people tuned in for the event.
D'Anniballe led the conversation and spoke about the types of trauma people experience such as personal or familial, cultural and violence exposure. She said there are various ways people respond to those traumatic incidents. People may respond through flashbacks and nightmares, substance use and numbing or by disconnecting from daily activities.
"We want to start watching — if these things are still present — it's just a good sign that maybe we need a little help to re-center and work through some of this to get back to the way we were functioning before and that if so, if this is still going on for you or for people you love, this is a good time to seek that professional," she said.
During the conversation D'Anniballe said not all distractions such as checking out and watching Netflix are bad. But when it becomes a repeated habit where someone is constantly checking out and numbing or feeling detached from others, it may be time to look into mental health services in the area or speak to a loved one who is experiencing some of these symptoms about how they are feeling.
She advises people to be understanding and above all else, validate that person's emotions.
"Definitely validate and normalize feelings — all of them — everything we mentioned today the anger, the sadness, even the denial," she said.
D'Anniballe said what people should not do is minimize a person's feelings by saying things like, "You should be over that," "It happened six weeks ago," or "You didn't know anybody that was shot."
"We want to try to not do that or to kind of label somebody's experiences as worse than or better than another," she said.
D'Anniballe said she encourages people to try to slow their thought-processing with activities such as yoga and focusing on taking deep breathes. Other important practices involve eating right, improving sleeping habits by avoiding caffeine before bed and exercising more often.
She said other practices include focusing on what is going well in life or activities that bring you joy such as getting involved in the community by volunteering at a local animal shelter, donating money and giving back to others.
These are all ways people can begin to heal, she said. As people continue the process, the No.1 thing to remember is: No one is in it alone, D'Anniballe said.
"These are not normal times," she said. "The level of stress (and) trauma we've been exposed to is real. Do those things to cultivate your resiliency the best you can to bounce back, to navigate and know that you're not alone through it all."
