It has been just two months since 1 October shook Las Vegas to its core. Some 20,000 attendees of the Route 91 concert witnessed the horrifying slaughter of 58 innocent people and the wounding of hundreds more. For each of those victims, for each of those concert-goers, there are friends and family members whose hearts were forever changed by grief and worry. There were also hundreds of staffers at the event. Performers. Vendors. Each of them has friends and family members, too. There were employees of the hotel. Parking personnel. Traffic workers. And, of course, there were first-responders and medical professionals who worked fervently to save people’s lives. It is almost impossible to count how many were directly traumatized by the 1 October shooting.
It is even more difficult to calculate how many people were emotionally affected by the most deadly mass shooting in American history. I don’t know anyone in Las Vegas who didn’t feel the pain of losing members of our community. I don’t know anyone in Las Vegas who doesn’t feel a tremendous sense of heartbreak over knowing that people are grieving, that we are vulnerable, and that our community will never quite be the same.
When tragedies occur, our wellness is affected. That has an impact on our personal and professional lives. It is not uncommon for those who have experienced trauma to have difficulty dealing with day-to-day responsibilities and activities when they are struggling to process horrible events that have taken place. Employers and organizations have an opportunity to help.
As The Balance points out in their article, 11 Tips for Your Workplace Response to Tragedy, “A national tragedy or a personal tragedy has a huge impact at work. And, organizations can help people successfully weather the tragedy. They can ease the passage people experience during a tragedy. They can help people deal with the helplessness and grief they experience. They can provide a support system to help prop people up during grief.”
In fact, employers and organizations may hold the key to helping people cope with events such as 1 October in a responsible and effective way. As The Balance indicates, providing a forum for discussion is critical. It’s also important to provide support and understanding as people process in very different ways. You can read the entire article here.
The Center for Relational Health LV provides professional workshops, called Wellness in Uncertain Times, to help employees and colleagues in the aftermath of tragic events.
If you would like more information, please contact CRH-LV today.