The impact of the deadly shootings at Brown University and the Lynch Ice Arena in Pawtucket is still being felt by many Rhode Islanders.
In an effort to help survivors of the shootings who are still struggling emotionally and psychologically, the nonprofit group Family Services of Rhode Island opened a new resiliency center in Providence this week.
Located in the historic Union Station building next to Kennedy Plaza, the Ever Hope Center will provide counseling and other services to individuals who were affected by the tragedies.
Ocean State Media morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with Rachel Caruso, executive director of the Ever Hope Center, to learn more about its mission.
Interview highlights
On why the Ever Hope Center is necessary
Rachel Caruso: Mass violence, in comparison to other kinds of violence that we see in our community, has a holistic impact on our community, and it's – I hate this word, but it's the best way I know how to describe it – violating. It comes in and it takes away a community sense of safety and sense of autonomy over your own community. Because mass violence is so different and has such a different impact in our community, it deserves a different response. Resiliency centers are evidence-based best practice in terms of the aftercare of mass violence incidents.
There's something really frightening, not just (for) the folks who are physically harmed on scene, but seeing that kind of violence and being that close to it is incredibly impactful, and has similar effects that if you were physically injured on scene. Resiliency centers focusing specifically on that kind of violence and being trained in that kind of violence is really incredibly important.
The other kind of population we haven't touched on is the folks who respond to these incidents: your first responders, your crisis clinicians, your emergency management teams, your state emergency management teams, people like myself… because I was at both incidents with Family Services go teams. We're also all impacted, and so something that we really want to focus on at the Ever Hope Center, as well, is offering services to those who respond and to those who are helpers on scene.
On the mission of the Ever Hope Center
Caruso: There are so many different groups of individuals that were impacted by these different events. You obviously have the core folks that were right there, that were either in (the Barus and Holley building at Brown), that were in the Lynch Arena during the time of the shooting. But then you have so many others.
In terms of the Providence incident, you had a city that was on lockdown for multiple hours. You have the businesses on Thayer Street that were impacted by being on lockdown for hours. I very clearly remember a couple days after the Brown University shooting, I was at the Family Assistance Center, which was on Thayer Street. If you live in Providence, you know what Thayer Street looks like during Christmastime. It's busy.
There was nobody there. It was a ghost town. I remember hearing people talking about, especially before the (Brown) shooter was found, "Well, do I send my kids to school? Do I feel comfortable sending my child to school?" So mass violence just has that community impact that it seeps into little corners of our community. I think it'd be really hard-pressed for you to walk around Rhode Island right now and not run into somebody who was either directly impacted by one or if not both of these incidents, or knew somebody who was.
On services offered at the Ever Hope Center
Caruso: Right now we are offering trauma-informed support groups. Those are facilitated by Ever Hope Center staff that are trauma-trained social service professionals. I am facilitating groups. We are a strong team of three at the moment, so we're all doing a little bit of everything. We're working right now to build partnerships with community organizations to offer things like trauma-informed yoga, art therapy, meditation. We've also done a lot of work in attending events at Brown and providing psychological first aid for those events. We're providing a calm, familiar support at community events.
Us in this field who have seen some things, we have our ways of taking care of ourselves. I mean, I go to therapy. I think it's healthy that anybody, especially in this field, goes to therapy. I have a really great team of family and friends who I depend on very heavily in terms of my self-care and disconnecting from the work that we do. I also feel really empowered to be helping folks who have gone through this. I have seen the impact that these two incidents have had on our community, so this is very near and dear to my heart. We just want to help.
