Counselor: Mass shootings are ‘shattering’ to communities once believed safe
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH ) — Residents of Greenwood and Beech Grove may not have witnessed Sunday’s unspeakable events, but that doesn’t mean they are not profoundly affected.
Many people may be asking themselves this question: How will I ever feel safe in my own community again?
“Maybe today you don’t,” Kimble Richardson, a licensed mental health counselor at Community Health Network, told News 8. “It just takes a minute. … It takes a while to get that base of: Where am I physically and emotionally safe? I want that to be in my own community. Everybody does and when it’s not it’s really shattering.”
However, even though people don’t have control over what happened, Richardson says, there are things they do have control over, things they can do right now to ease their fears.
“I think what we should do with those feelings is what we recommend we do any time we don’t feel safe, which is to reach out for comfort and support either from someone you know or someone who has the training to support you like a crisis line or a help line.”
Richardson also says times like these are reminders to be advocates for good, to think about the kind of world we want to live in and how people can make it safer for themselves, their children and their families.
Mental health resources
- Be Well Indiana
- Indiana Suicide Prevention
- Indiana Department of Child Services’ Children’s Mental Health Initiative
- National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988 or 800-273-8255
- More resources