Crisis Response

So...it was definitely a loooong week at work. And most everyone I talked to felt it. Massive exhaustion creeping in with the dark and dreery Oregon weather. Even on the "sunny" days, it was dark.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I started the week at a Crisis Response training. It was interesting, but emotional, as we listened to accounts of grief and trauma and tried to prepare for supporting kids and families for future unforeseen grief and trauma. The amazing thing was, when broken into small groups a main focus for my small group was how to handle a crisis centered around suicide, all the while, a situation resembling this was occurring in our district.

A distraught and hopeless man caused the lock-down in two of our schools that very afternoon due to his threats of suicide with a handgun. Unfortunately, he completed this threat, which impacted not only his children but many other children and adults in the surrounding schools and community.

I was relieved that it was not my team on call this month, as I am not sure I would've been "up" for this crisis. Still...such a tragedy never occurs without impacting all of us. My thoughts and prayers are with this family.

I think about the statements made by the presenter of my training...

If someone dies of cancer, we say they died of a disease of the body. When someone dies of suicide, we need to see that they died of a disease of the brain. I do know this to be true.

Today. the loving support of friends and family makes me happy. Some days it is easy to forget these things are there...especially for those in crisis.