SAMHSA DTAC September Bulletin: Mass Violence Preparedness and Coping
SAMHSA DTAC DBH
Mass violence often results in casualties, including loss of human life and injuries, and can severely impact the local and/or national community, leaving survivors feeling numb, hopeless, anxious, confused, and helpless. Trauma may result from these events, negatively impacting the mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being of survivors. Although mass violence has many negative effects, people are able to cope and heal from these types of events. Building resilience before and after experiencing mass violence can counteract the effects of trauma and support healthy coping.
The resources below provide information about, support planning for, and encourage healing from incidents of mass violence.
Addressing Trauma and Mass Violence
In this post to the SAMHSA Blog, Assistant Secretary for
Mental Health and Substance Use Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D.,
highlights many resources that offer support during times of trauma and
mass violence. Resources include the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline
and print materials on coping after mass violence, how to talk to
children and teens about mass violence, and how to help children and
teens with traumatic grief after the event.
This edition of the SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance
Center (DTAC) quarterly newsletter, The
Dialogue, highlights experiences, perspectives, and resources
from experts in the field focused on mass violence, community violence,
and hate crimes. It includes articles from first responders and service
providers that share lessons learned, explore the impacts of these
incidents, and provide steps to support coping and resilience building
for affected communities and individuals.
The New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center
created this resource document after the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston,
Maine. The resource directs readers to more information about the
disaster recovery process, shows where to find help if you or someone
else is experiencing a mental health crisis, provides coping resources
for adults and children, and lists behavioral health resources for the
government, organizations, and clinicians.
This web page from the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline
provides resources and information about mass violence for individuals
and their communities. Topics include what mass violence is, impacts of
mass violence, and who is most at risk. The page also gives tips on where
to get help and what to do during or after mass violence. Information
about the toll-free, multilingual, national Disaster Distress Helpline is also provided.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network created this
fact sheet to raise awareness of common reactions families and children
may have after mass violence events and actions they can take to care for
themselves. This resource also provides ways to get further help from
sources such as the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline and 7 cups, a
service with trained active listeners and counselors available to chat or
text to help people struggling in difficult times.
If you have any questions or if you would like additional information, please reach out to the SAMHSA DTAC team at 1-800-308-3515 or via e-mail at dt...@manhattanstrategy.com [Please note our new email address.]