On the first day of class, many professors began their lectures by discussing mental health resources. In the wake of the mass shooting, campus conversations about healing from trauma have taken center stage.
Returning to normalcy can be difficult after a traumatic event, like the Dec. 13 mass shooting, that takes place on an otherwise typical day, according to Scott Sylvester, the program manager of the Rhode Island Youth Suicide Prevention Program. “It can be challenging to help the individual regain that feeling of safety after such an event,” he said.
Sylvester wrote that small things an individual may have ignored prior to a traumatic event could now trigger a stress response. “This may cause the individual to feel confused and uncertain about what is going on within their own body,” he added.
Francesca Beaudoin PhD ’17, the interim dean of the School of Public Health, said that most people who have experienced a traumatic event recover. But some individuals may develop long-lasting symptoms — such as poor sleep or social withdrawal — that impact daily life.
Sylvester wrote that there are simple strategies, like intentional breathing, to help mitigate these effects.
Healing can also come in unexpected forms, according to Stephen Buka, a professor of epidemiology at the Brown School of Public Health. Playing Tetris, for example, may lessen the emotions associated with memories, which, if not processed, can contribute to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
If patients recount a memory while playing the game, their rapid eye movements while stacking the geometric, colored pixels can help reduce the traumatic associations formed with the memory, he said.
Engaging the senses — whether that means holding ice cubes or tasting strong flavors — can also be helpful, as well as strategies like yoga and meditation, Sylvester explained. But he recommended that individuals find professional support if they are still struggling to return to everyday life more than four weeks after the traumatic event.
He added trauma-informed care in institutions benefits from guidance to faculty and staff on how to identify and support students who may be struggling. “This information can be used to help identify faculty and staff who may also be struggling themselves,” he wrote.
Brown has applied a “public health framework” to the University’s recovery initiatives, which means “thinking and acting on recovery as a whole campus,” wrote Beaudoin, who is also a member of the “Brown Ever True Operational Team.”
In January, the University launched “Brown Ever True,” a campus-wide recovery effort intended to rebuild a sense of security on campus and help the community heal.
“It is sometimes hard to identify everyone who will need support following an event like Dec. 13, so there is a benefit to casting a broad net,” she wrote. The effort includes small-group and expert-led discussions as well as resilience training, among other initiatives.
“The components were designed with a lens of helping the nervous system settle and reset through visible supports and community connection,” she wrote.
“I’m so proud of Brown,” Buka said. “As an organization, the support that it's showing to the community, to the students, to the faculty, the staff, is exactly what the literature says is needed.”
Amrita Rajpal is a senior staff writer covering science and research.
