When Violence Shatters a School Community
A school is meant to be a place where children and teenagers learn, grow, make friends, and feel safe. When a shooting occurs, that sense of safety can be deeply shaken.
Whether you have lost someone you love, witnessed violence, survived a shooting, or are struggling with emotions after an event in your school or community, you may be experiencing feelings that are difficult to understand or express.
You might feel frightened, angry, guilty, confused, numb, or overwhelmed. You may have trouble sleeping, concentrating, or returning to familiar routines. You may find yourself worrying about whether it could happen again.
There is no single way to respond to an experience like this. You do not have to work through it alone, and you do not have to feel better on anyone else's timetable.
The resources below offer support for children, teenagers, and the adults who care about them. Some address grief after losing someone, while others focus on coping with the effects of trauma. I hope they help you find understanding and support. You are not alone, and my heart goes out to you.
Note:
Some resources address the death of a loved one, while others address the trauma of surviving or witnessing violence. These experiences can overlap, but they are not the same.
Children and teens who have experienced a shooting may need more than grief support. Persistent nightmares, panic, avoidance, hypervigilance, or difficulty returning to everyday activities can be signs that trauma-informed professional support would be helpful.
The section for adults includes resources for those directly impacted by the shooting.
For immediate emotional crisis support in the United States, call or text 988. In an immediate emergency, call 911.
1. Resources for teenagers
National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
A particularly valuable collection developed specifically for school shootings and mass violence. Includes a fact sheet written directly for teens, Coping After Mass Violence: For Teens. It addresses common emotional and physical reactions and offers practical ways to cope.
Also includes materials on traumatic grief, anxiety, and the effects of exposure to violence.
The Dougy Center – After a School Shooting or Large-Scale Tragedy
Provides guidance for talking about school shootings and other community tragedies with grieving children and teenagers. Its resources recognize that young people may be affected even when they were not physically present at the event.
After a School Shooting or Large-Scale Tragedy
3. National Center for School Safety
Its youth resource collection includes For Teens: Coping After Mass Violence, When Terrible Things Happen: For Students, and How to Cope with Traumatic Events.
These are useful for teens who need practical tools for managing fear, stress, and uncertainty.
4. American Psychological Association – Managing Distress After a Shooting
Offers guidance on recognizing and managing distress following a shooting. Although the material is written primarily for parents, its practical suggestions can be useful for older adolescents.
Helping Your Children Manage Distress in the Aftermath of a Shooting
Resources for children
For younger children, resources should be developmentally appropriate, reassuring without making promises that cannot be kept, and available through trusted adults. Children may not have the vocabulary to describe traumatic experiences. They may express their distress through play, physical complaints, nightmares, clinginess, regression, or repeated questions.
National Child Traumatic Stress Network – Talking to Children About the Shooting
A resource for helping children understand what has happened, respond to their questions, and manage fear. Also offers Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event, which distinguishes the responses of young children, school-age children, and adolescents.
Explore the school shooting resource collection
Sesame Workshop – Emergencies and Community Violence
Offers child-friendly materials for helping young children cope with frightening events. Sesame Street's approach uses familiar characters, stories, and activities to help children identify feelings and find comfort.
Particularly helpful for preschool and early elementary ages.
Child Mind Institute – Trauma and Grief
Offers accessible explanations of trauma, anxiety, and grief in children. Its resources help parents understand when children's reactions may require additional professional attention.
Once I Was Very, Very Scared
A picture book developed for young children who have experienced frightening events by a trauma-informed clinical psychologist with lovely illustrations. It helps children recognize that people can respond to frightening experiences in different ways and that support is available.
It is not specifically about school shootings, but it can be useful in helping younger children process fear and trauma. Sometimes older children and teens gain comfort by reading books like these themselves, and may want to read them to younger children.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
Provides family-oriented information about talking with children about community violence and helping them cope with frightening events. Useful for parents seeking developmentally appropriate guidance.
· Resource Library on Guns and Violence
For Educators, School Staff, Parents, Caregivers and Others Who Tried to Protect Their Students
Teachers and school staff are entrusted with the care and safety of children. When violence enters a school, they may find themselves facing circumstances they could never have imagined or prepared for.
Some may have witnessed a shooting, been injured, helped students escape, sheltered children, confronted an attacker, or made split-second decisions in an effort to protect others. Some may have lost students or colleagues they knew and loved.
Those who intervened may carry particularly painful questions:
- Why did I survive when others did not?
- Could I have saved more children?
- Did I make the right decision?
- Why wasn't I able to protect everyone?
- What if I had acted sooner?
- How can I return to a classroom when I couldn't keep my students safe?
These questions can persist even when someone acted courageously and did everything reasonably possible under extraordinarily dangerous circumstances.
You may be experiencing survivors' guilt. These are not signs of weakness or evidence that you failed. They can arise when people experience or participate in events that violate their deepest values, responsibilities, or sense of what should have been possible.
You may grieve the children and colleagues you lost, struggle with memories of decisions made in seconds, or feel that others cannot understand what you experienced.
You deserve care and support, too. You do not have to minimize your own suffering because others were killed or injured. And you do not have to turn what happened into a story of heroism before you are ready.
The resources below offer help for educators, school personnel, first responders, and others who have experienced trauma while trying to protect children. There are also resources for parents and caregivers.
Recommended resources for school staff and adult survivors
I would select resources that address both their personal trauma and the challenges of returning to a school community where children still need them.
National Center for School Safety – Supporting School Staff After a Crisis
This is an extensive collection of resources for educators, administrators, and school personnel. Particularly useful materials include:
- Compassion Resilience for School Leaders and Staff
- Understanding Compassion Fatigue
- Professional Self-Care
- Responding to a Mass Casualty Event at a School
These address the emotional toll of a crisis and the importance of ongoing support for those working in affected schools.
Explore School Crisis Resources
National Child Traumatic Stress Network – Psychological First Aid for Schools
NCTSN provides practical guidance for responding to trauma in school settings, including resources specifically for teachers, principals, administrators, and school support staff.
Psychological First Aid for Schools (PFA-S) is especially useful for understanding how to support an affected community while recognizing that staff members themselves may need support.
SAMHSA – Disaster Distress Helpline
A free, confidential, 24-hour resource for people experiencing emotional distress related to disasters and traumatic events, including mass violence.
It can be particularly helpful for people who are not yet ready to seek ongoing therapy but need to speak with someone trained to respond to traumatic distress.
Call or text 1-800-985-5990.
National Center for PTSD – Understanding Moral Injury
Although much of the original research on moral injury involved military personnel, the concept is increasingly recognized in other traumatic settings.
Moral injury can involve guilt, shame, anger, or a sense of betrayal when an event conflicts with deeply held values. It can occur when someone believes they failed to prevent harm, even when the circumstances were beyond their control.
This resource provides a useful explanation of the concept and its distinction from PTSD.
University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention – Resources for Communities After a School Shooting
A collection of resources for affected communities, including Resilience Strategies for Educators, which addresses self-care and peer support following trauma.
Explore community recovery resources
National Child Traumatic Stress Network – Parent Guidelines
Parent Guidelines for Helping Youth After Mass Violence explains common reactions, how to talk with children, how to restore a sense of safety, and how adults can care for themselves while supporting their children.
American School Counselor Association – After a School Shooting
Practical guidance for helping students return to school, responding to fears, maintaining routines, and rebuilding a sense of security.
Helping Students After a School Shooting
National Center for School Safety – Returning to School After a Crisis
A guide for school personnel, mental health professionals, and families. Addresses trauma responses, warning signs of distress, and strategies for supporting students as they return to school.
California Department of Education – Coping with Tragedy
Particularly useful for California families and educators. Provides resources for schools responding to violence, loss, and grief, including materials in Spanish.
A comprehensive resource page
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Trauma Response and Recovery Resources
This page brings together resources from NCTSN and other organizations for families, children, adolescents, educators, and communities affected by mass violence. It is a useful starting point for anyone who doesn't know where to turn.