APA Resources Offer Tips for Coping with the Virginia Tech Shootings
by APA Public Relations and Communications Staff
April 19, 2007 -- As people learned of the shootings on Monday, April 16, at Virginia Polytechnic University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, the APA Practice Directorate mobilized to provide information for individuals in distress. In addition to material already posted online, the directorate continues adding new resources for students, parents and others to the APA Help Center.
Shortly after the campus rampage, the directorate posted, “Tips for College and University Students: Managing Your Distress in the Aftermath of the Virginia Tech Shootings” on the APA Help Center homepage. The guide offers pointers for strengthening resilience in the aftermath of the school violence. Another resource, “Tips for Parents of School Age Children: Helping Your Children Manage Distress in the Aftermath of the Virginia Tech Shooting,” is newly available at the Help Center.
APA Public Education Campaign (PEC) coordinators and other members are using these materials in their waiting rooms, with local media and for other community outreach activities.
Various institutions have made information from APA accessible via their Web sites. A link to the “tips for students” guide appears on the homepage of the Virginia Tech Counseling Center website. Along with an APA fact sheet on managing traumatic stress, the tips also are among the resources featured at the mental health website for MTV University (mtvU). In addition, MtvU posted a banner ad on approximately 500 college newspaper Web sites that links to the material from APA.
APA support in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy has taken additional forms. The day of the shootings, the American Red Cross (ARC) sent its Critical Response Team, including APA Disaster Response Network member Susan Silk, PhD, to Virginia Tech to aid the efforts of the Red Cross Montgomery-Floyd chapter in Blacksburg. More than 50 individuals specializing in disaster mental health, including psychologists, are currently volunteering to assist local relief efforts.
The volunteers are available to offer emotional support to students and families at a Red Cross comfort center on campus. Their services include helping survivors, family members, university and community members cope with the trauma, and informing people of resources that can help those affected for the longer term.
Meanwhile, APA members have been active in sharing information through the news media. Psychologists who serve as APA Public Education Campaign coordinators have done local radio and newspaper interviews on a variety of topics including the warning signs of violence, coping in the aftermath and how parents can communicate with their children about the shootings. The APA Office of Public Communicationshas placed psychologists for interviews including Time and Newsweek magazines, BBC Radio, and Associated Press (TV), among many other outlets.
Visit the APA Help Center for information and updates that may be helpful for your work with clients, organizations, health facilities and other community-based outreach.