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Statement on Community Violence

Don Rosenberg

To Our Staff,

No doubt every one of us has been touched by the unfathomable, sad, and frightening violence that has been repeatedly occurring and frequently reported, particularly the past couple of weeks. No one is immune to the effect of these shootings.

Shorehaven's vision and practice stand firmly against any form of discrimination, prejudice, stereotyping, or racial injustice. We stand strongly in favor of diversity and increasing the well-being of our clients. We worry for the welfare of our staff members and their families and of our clients.

We need to be aware of the impact of these tragic events on ourselves, on our co-workers, on our clients, and on our community. You do not have to have solutions; you are a solution. You know that talking about our reactions to these realities is a path in the direction of inner and community peace.

We recognize our staff members may need a supportive, open environment for expressing our own reactions, thoughts, and feelings. Our supervisors and managers are here to support the staff. The supervisors are open to talking about it in clinical supervision. We encourage anyone who may want to talk about it to come to a supervisor. We will listen and we will ask if there is anything we can do to be helpful.

Again, as a mental health center, we know that awareness of our own reactions is the place to begin to help others. Then, we can create a welcoming place for our clients to express their thoughts, fears, and anxieties. We are privileged to be able to help so many people who are in turn the beneficiaries of the excellent work we all collectively do in this community,

Our practice is to pay it forward, that is, to improve the world by sowing loving-kindness, an attitude that comes forth from our remarkable staff.

We pass courtesy and civility forward into the world. We impact so many lives. Thank you all for the trauma-informed work you do. I include all of our support staff in that message for their sensitive, welcoming responses to our so-often traumatized clients, and for being a foundation for our work.

If any staff member or family member of a staff member wants confidential help, we can put you in touch with our EAP program. A brochure is attached.

How shall we talk to clients about it? Some will suppress or avoid the topic. Some are living in environments in which they are exposed to danger. Others will welcome the opportunity to share. Most have an impressive level of resilience. We need to maintain our own emotional equanimity and control our own reactions. We are aware of the phenomena of secondary traumatization and vicarious trauma.

This is one of those moments of reflection in which we can look at the whole team, all 100 of us, and to treasure what we do together to 'repair the world' in the ways we achieve by our joint efforts.

Below, I've include a few links to short articles which may offer some insights about the exposure of children to violence.
 

• Children’s Exposure to Violence (childtrends.org)
• 15 Tips for Talking with Children About Violence (colorincolorado.org)
• Can News of Police Violence Cause PTSD in the Black Community? (vice.com)