LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — The Lancaster community is still reeling from the Oct. 17 shooting at Park City Center. A free trauma intervention event on Oct. 28 aimed to help anyone affected by the event begin to process it.
The virtual event offered confidential support for people of all ages. The Lancaster District Attorney Victim/Witness Services office hosted the event, with Group Crisis Intervention (GCI) being performed by the Keystone Crisis Intervention Team (KCIT).
GCI is a process that takes people through the traumatic events they experienced. By retelling and writing down what happened, people can start to process their feelings about it.
“With trauma brains sometimes not just hearing something but seeing it written is really helpful for them to heal and feel that connection and to normalize what they’re experiencing and what they have experienced and what they continue to experience,” Donna Welsh, program director for KCIT said.
The negative effect of trauma can be immediate, Welsh said. Common symptoms include trouble sleeping, eating issues, crying often, or feeling unsettled.
Trauma can also exhibit as not so obvious symptoms, but can cause people to be mentally pulled back to the event by certain triggers.
“Trauma gets embedded in our senses," Welsh said. Our senses get impacted. That continues with us…bringing us back to feeling that anxious nervousness and not knowing why."
The Lancaster County DA Victim/Witness Services office said in a statement:
“We are offering this opportunity to participate in a group crisis intervention to acknowledge the trauma of the experience, to give voice to the individual responses that it created and to provide information about resources.”
Organizers emphasized the intervention is not therapy, but can help people start the healing process.