After a traumatic event, people may be experiencing a wide range of emotions or may experience them in the future.
For those with trauma, experiencing PTSD or just need someone to talk to, counselors, therapists, pastors and social workers are on standby this week and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
“The trauma looks different for everybody, but what I had seen in my individual sessions is the impact that trauma can have on the brains and bodies of these individuals,” said Jessie Thompson, clinical social worker.
Thompson is offering free sessions to people in need at the United Methodist Church.
“Seeing the impact with my own family is what really made me feel like, gosh, we really got to use, it’s an obligation, to use the gifts and resources I have to help others,” Thompson said.
But for anyone, it’s important to check in with yourself after experiencing a devastating event like Friday’s.
Gaylord High School students have been helping their peers with fundraisers, meanwhile staff are finding which students might have been affected the most.
“Because if you’re not taking care of yourself, then you’re not able to turn around and help others,” Jeff Hervela, Gaylord High School Guidance Counselor said.
And congregations have also been coming together, finding comfort in helping their neighbors and praying for them, together.
“I think it was the pastoral prayer moment where people, there were people who were in tears at that moment,” said Paul Gruenberg, Gaylord United Methodist Church Pastor. “There was a lot of release of tension, a release of maybe some anxiety that people were experiencing wanting to be able to express that in a healthy way.”
Hervela and Thompson say it may take weeks for people to finally realize how this event has affected them as people continue picking up their lives, and try to look to the future.
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