Abbotsford parents should prepare for trauma after stabbing: specialist

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The Abbotsford School District has made grief counsellors available to students and staff in the wake of yesterday’s violent stabbings at Abbotsford Secondary.

But Tapestry Counselling Centre co-director Letty Mills hopes that trauma counsellors are made available as well.

“The trauma aspect in this kind of situation is because it was a random act of violence and all of the students and staff were, in fact, in danger and their lives were potentially threatened,” she explains. “It adds a new element to the counselling situation.”

Mills, who specializes in trauma counselling, says grief at the loss of a student, friend, and classmate is typically uncomplicated, and support involves being there as the grieving party works through their sadness.

Reactions to trauma meanwhile tend to be more extreme, and result in a wider array of emotions: deep depression, high anxiety, fear, anger, irritability, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, and high anxiety.

“Trauma often causes people to get into kind of get in a bit of a feedback loop, and the event will kind of unfold in their mind like a video tape, and it’ll just play over and over and over again.”

Mills adds many students will be “feeling really unsafe and very frightened about going to school, and generally in their life, feeling very frightened about the nature of the world and that violence random acts can occur anywhere.”

Parents of affected students can help by keeping an eye out for the symptoms of trauma, and to offer comfort wherever possible.

“(Don’t) judge their fear, but comfort them and say ‘it’s understandable that you’re frightened’, and to find ways to help their children feel safer.”

Parents can also find counselling services in their area.

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