Mass Tragedy &
Mental Health Crisis Coordination
When community resources are overwhelmed by natural disasters or mass tragedies, COVA is often called in to help. We work with local, state, and national service providers to coordinate teams of advocates trained in trauma response. COVA assisted in the aftermath of the Columbine High School shooting; the Oklahoma City bombing trial; the September 11th bombings; the relocation of 3,000 Hurricane Katrina refugees to Colorado; the Four Mile Canyon fire; the Platte Canyon High School shooting; the 7/20/12 Cinemark Theater shooting; and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. Most recently, we provided assistance to the 2019 STEM School shooting. COVA is also called upon to assist with jury debriefings in particularly violent criminal cases.
COVA Tips for Crisis & Trauma:
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The Aurora Theater Tragedy, the Columbine Tragedy, the 9/11 Attack, the Park County School Shootings, and many other disasters have far-reaching implications. Those of us in victim services may need to be prepared to respond to situations that are different from our normal professional challenges. COVA encourages you to be prepared in your community to respond to these acts of violence. We are available to support your efforts to provide these services, and PLEASE remember to take care of yourself.
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Coping with Reminders:
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Reminders, holidays and other special days may be times mixed with sad memories and well as joy and new reasons to celebrate-even after a disaster. Know these times may be more difficult and renew some distress symptoms such as you felt right after the disaster. That is not unusual, and most people are able to get through these special times and get back to feeling a bit better once the reminder or special day passes with a little help from friends and family. We also have some suggestions that might help below.
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