Easing fears after Jonesboro shooting

By Scott Sleek
Monitor staff

Several psychologists were among at least 80 mental health professionals who provided counseling and information services to the survivors of the recent shooting spree in a Jonesboro, Ark., schoolyard.

The psychologists, all residents of the Jonesboro area, provided counseling services to teachers, students and rescue workers who were struggling with fear and grief about the March 24 incident. And by collecting information from local police and prosecutors, they were able to assuage people?s new fears about their safety and answer questions about the fate of the two young perpetrators, says George DeRoeck, PsyD, a psychologist involved in the relief efforts and a member of APA?s Disaster Response Network (DRN).

The DRN is a group of nearly 2,000 APA members who provide pro bono services to disaster victims and rescuers. Since 1991, when APA signed a statement of understanding with the American Red Cross, DRN members typically work on site at disasters to which the Red Cross responds.

But often the Red Cross does not coordinate the response to individual acts of violence, which was the case with the Jonesboro incident, says Jan Peterson, the APA Practice Directorate?s director of public relations and special projects and manager of the DRN.

'In these instances, DRN members often work with local groups to deliver psychological services,' she says.

The Jonesboro psychologists linked with local professionals and the National Organization for Victim Assistance, a Washington, D.C.?based nonprofit group that helped coordinate the services to the survivors and their families.

Russ Dixon, PsyD, found working with local clergy to be especially helpful. When he would meet with students or teachers at Westside Middle School?the site of the shootings?he had a Methodist minister in the room with him. 'This is a very religious community, and folks use spiritual guidance as a coping skill,' he says.

DeRoeck also solicited guidance from Gerard Jacobs, PhD, director of the Disaster Mental Health Institute at the University of South Dakota and a member of the DRN advisory committee. Jacobs sent the Jonesboro psychologists about 500 copies of handouts and books on such topics as childhood trauma, helping children deal with grief and the effects of witnessing traumatic events, to distribute in the community.

While the professionals from various mental health disciplines worked well together in helping the Jonesboro residents, their efforts were at times disorganized, DeRoeck asserts.

But Arkansas psychologists are hoping to become better prepared for such crises, says Dawn Harris, EdD, who chairs disaster-crisis-response issues for the Arkansas Psychological Association. At its spring conference in April, the association agreed to create a task force to develop a crisis-and-disaster-response program for Arkansas practitioners. Part of the task force?s job will be to examine how the association can work more closely with the state chapter of the American Red Cross or other crisis-response organizations, Harris adds.

And it also will look at creating long-term services for disaster victims and rescue workers, since the emotional responses to traumatic events can linger for years, she says.

The Jonesboro incident isn?t the only situation that has Arkansas psychologists beefing up their crisis readiness. They also realize that they face a looming natural disaster that could place their crisis-intervention skills in high demand: The state may experience a major earthquake within the next several decades. Seismologists say the New Madrid fault system, which stretches from southern Illinois through Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas, could yield an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale?enough to damage many buildings.

Experts cite a 40 percent to 63 percent chance that an earthquake will occur in the region within the next 15 years, and up to a 97 percent chance that one will occur within 150 years.