Columbine High School Research Articles

Playing with history: collective memory, national trauma, and dark tourism in virtual reality docugames

Over a decade after the controversial docugames Super Columbine Massacre RPG! (Danny Ledonne, 2005) – a game that turned the 1999 Columbine High School shootings into an interactive quest from the ...

The War against Reality: A Youth Perspective on the Columbine High School Massacre

This paper takes a critical look at the cases of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two boys responsible for the Columbine High School massacre, and Seung-Hui Cho, responsible for the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. After careful examination of the published literature on relevant topics including junior delinquency, school massacres, and the increasing access to media, I propose that these violent incidents are logical consequences of an escapist approach to reality, undeniably prevalent in the current youth population at large. Fantasies (any product of the imagination), conjured up by books, movies, games, television, internet, and drugs, provide an escape away from the unsatisfactory reality, and serve as one weapon in the war against it. Although fantasizing can be therapeutic and creative in moderation, when one is hopelessly ill-equipped to deal with the obstacles of real life, one becomes more and more dependent on fantasies as the solution to all problems. In the case of Harris, Klebold and Cho, this dependence escalated to violent hatred against reality. However, violence in movies and video games are not what leads people to mass murder. Rather, the fault is in the society that breeds a generation of escapists who need such fantasies to survive. The readymade fantasies on television – violent, sexual, and otherwise – that many criticize as the source of evil in these young people are mere symptoms of a greater phenomenon, produced to meet the overwhelming and preexisting demand for an escape.

Preventing School Shootings: The Effectiveness of Safety Measures

ABSTRACTThe tragedies at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook Elementary School catapulted concern about school shootings into the national spotlight. Calls for something to be done to protect our students, faculty, and staff became a salient concern for school administrators, with many schools hiring armed security officers, restricting access to campus buildings, installing metal detectors, and training individuals how to respond when a shooter enters school grounds. However, many of these security measures were implemented with little to no consultation of the empirical literature. This failure to enact evidence-based responses has had fiscal and latent consequences that are only now being discovered. This essay seeks to fill that void by examining the empirical evidence surrounding common security measures enacted in response to well-publicized school shootings and calling for the use of an evidence-based approach to school safety.

Mass Media Reporting and Enabling of Mass Shootings

This article identifies distinct mass media reporting stages used in the coverage of mass killings, and the inspiration they provide for future killers. Ethnographic content analysis was used to identify common and ordered stages/themes expressed through mass media accounts of the massacres committed by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (Columbine High School), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), James Holmes (Aurora Movie Theater), Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook Elementary School), and Omar Mateen (Pulse nightclub Orlando). Many of these infamous killers reference/discuss their well-publicized prior homicidal role models in self-created archival documents they leave behind. They do not just copycat prior killers, they often relate to them, are inspired by them, and want to outdo them. The entertainment form and logic of mass mediated news provides the inspiration and fuel for later killings.

Assessing the influence of the Columbine shooting on federal sentencing outcomes

School shootings are not a new phenomenon in the United States or internationally. In comparison to other acts of violence experienced by youth, such tragedies are uncommon but garner extensive media attention. The Columbine High School shooting received more attention across a broader range of issues than any other school shooting, with only the Sandy Hook tragedy rivaling it for media attention. In the aftermath of the Columbine shooting, public sentiment regarding violence in schools became a central point of contention that bred fear and panic. Given the embeddedness of judges within the larger community context and the effects of community characteristics on sentencing outcomes, we wondered if the Columbine shooting – via moral panic and community upheaval – might have had an impact on judges imposing criminal sentences. To assess the effect of the Columbine shooting on judicial decision-making outcomes, the current study uses United States Sentencing Commission data from 1998 through 2001. In doing so, it contributes to the extant literature concerning the embeddedness of judges within communities and answers recent call for more research on the temporal context of sentencing disparities.

Super Columbine Massacre RPG!

This essay offers a counter-reading of Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, a controversial video game about the infamous school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 in which players adopt the roles of the shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebod. Focusing on the game’s unique procedural rhetoric, we argue that SCMRPG! juxtaposes interactive, non-realistic violence–reflected in a campy nineties video game aesthetic–with photographic evidence, extant dialogue, and a detailed narrative of the tragic events at Columbine to promote critical thought about gun violence generally and school shootings in particular. The essay concludes with a brief reflection on the vital that role video games can play in critical pedagogy.

Queer Orientation with Gus Van Sant's Elephant

Sexuality, common discourse tells us, constitutes an identity – or an orientation. Unlike the easily reified ‘identity’, however, the latter term can be taken to suggest the intimate enfolding of the erotic within a specific environment, milieu or Umwelt. I explore that possibility in relation to Gus van Sant's Elephant (2003), a film loosely based on the Columbine High School massacre of 20 April 1999. I show that the movie resists the reduction of the American high school to narrative setting. Elephant tells a story that is not about plot, but about place. At two instances in the film, homosexuality is at stake. A student discussion revolves around whether one should presume to be able to recognise sexual orientation from appearances. In another scene, the two murderers-to-be share a fleeting kiss in the shower, prompting one reviewer to conclude, ‘[t]wo boys kiss. And then a school massacre’. While that reading assumes the inevitability of the narrative chronology of post quod erg propter quod, I want to attend to the film's alternative mode of narration, which might be described as immersive, ambient, atmospherical or meteorological. Elephant is so disorienting because it is so queerly orientated to an irreducible ‘timeplace’. Like the weather, Elephant shows us, (homo)sexuality is not one thing. Like the weather, (homo)sexuality is not a thing.

The Columbine High School Killings

The Columbine High School Killings

Studying School Shootings: Challenges and Considerations for Research

Studying school shootings can be both a fruitful and challenging endeavor. The random nature of these events provides a number of challenges for studying this phenomenon. This paper explores these concerns as they relate to developing and implementing studies, as well as interpreting related findings by drawing on previous research that examined the effects of the 1999 Columbine High School, the 2007 Virginia Tech, and the 2008 Northern Illinois University shootings. Ways in which these issues may be overcome and, more generally, the research can be moved forward also are discussed.

Fans of Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in what was then the deadliest school shooting in American history. Despite causing a national panic and serving as a flash point for larger narratives on bullying, gun control, and media violence, both boys have gained active online fans. These fandoms dedicated to the Columbine shooters are widely referred to as dark examples of Internet communities, while the fans are also frequently denigrated as unstable and violent outcasts. Such dark online fandoms are yet to permeate mainstream culture or to challenge the preexisting perception of these communities as breeding grounds for the next wave of school shooters. While studies have covered the types of fans and their myriad interests, the field remains focused on more conventional examples of fan communities. In an effort to challenge and expand the object of focus when we study fandom, this qualitative study examines Columbine fans and their activity in order to understand the dominant motives they appear to have for engaging with and around such controversial figures and then concludes by exploring how this community might help us reflect more broadly on our concept of fandom. Redeeming these fans as part of diverse and complex communities of social relevance can demonstrate how even a dark fandom such as that of these Columbine shooters provides valuable cultural insights and benefits the field of fan studies.

My Children's Children

This is the first book written by Dr. Robert A. Saul, a pediatrician and geneticist practicing in South Carolina. To better understand the main perspective of this book, it is important to have some background information on the author. Dr. Saul lived large part of his life in Colorado. In 1999, after the tragic shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, he felt compelled to write a letter to the editor of his local article in which he urged all Americans to take personal responsibility for the difficulties that face society today. Over the next few years, Dr. Saul wrote over 160 articles to the local newspaper on that topic. Dr. Saul then decided to compile and rewrite those letters in “My Children's Children,” in which he calls people to action to become better citizens, better parents, better individuals, and ultimately to have a better society. He cites a few pediatric research articles from peer reviewed journals, but for the most part, the book seems to be inspired by Dr. Saul's experiences and personal views. His arguments are constructed in a comfortable and nonconfrontational manner, although often with idealistic views of how society's complex problems can be fixed. Dr. Saul formulates 5 steps to address these concerns. He challenges readers to try these action steps in their everyday life with the purpose of making a positive difference in our society. The first step, Learn to Be the Best Parent You Can Be, is composed of 17 short chapters in which he describes various situations that can be encountered through parenthood. The author touches upon delicate and current subjects such as breastfeeding, bullying, gun control, and childhood obesity. He explains, in a somewhat oversimplified manner, some general recommendations and gives examples to the reader with a brief take-home message at the end of each chapter. The second and third steps are Get Involved and Stay Involved. The author gives a forceful explanation of why the only way change can occur is if each person becomes personally involved and accepts individual responsibility for society's problems. Having this as a foundation, he proceeds to give examples of ways in which the reader can get involved in different settings, such as in the community and with children as parents. To Stay Involved, Dr. Saul lays out the traits that he considers needed to continue to engage in the community, such as persistence, optimism, patience, tolerance, compassion, commitment, and empathy. Although Dr. Saul touches upon important aspects of advocacy, the specific examples and steps he recommends are somewhat vague and decontextualized from the complexities of durable solutions. Love for Others is the next step; here, the author describes how love is defined more by actions than by words. Therefore, acting through positive deeds and overcoming intolerance is the advised way to help fellow citizens and the community. Forgiveness is the last of the 5 steps; Dr. Saul considers this step a requirement for progress. He associates the inability to forgive with such things as hatred and intolerance, exhorting the reader to accept responsibility, forgive ourselves and forgive others. Dr. Saul writes in a very personal and earnest manner. His personality, point of view, and Christian beliefs are tightly embedded in this book, especially in the last 2 steps. Throughout this book, Dr. Saul gives us a glimpse of his many personal roles as a father, husband, son, and Christian, as well as a pediatrician and a fierce advocate for children. The style and content are geared to a general audience and not specifically for those seeking an in-depth policy or research-based review. With this book, he calls for action by describing various opportunities that the reader might have to make a difference. As developmental and behavioral health care providers, he reminds us of the responsibilities we have toward our patients. The title “My Children's Children” makes reference to our patients as “our children.” Thus, the primary relevance to us as pediatric health care providers is that it activates the humanistic side of our professional roles to remind us that we have the potential to make a significant positive impact on our communities.

Armed Victims: The Ego Function of Second Amendment Rhetoric

On June 10, 2014, Emilio Hoffman was shot and killed in a gym locker room and a teacher was wounded in a Troutdale, Oregon school. The shooter killed himself after a shootout with police. Two days earlier, a couple shot two police officers at point blank range in a restaurant, covered one of them with a Gadsden flag and a swastika, and then later killed an armed civilian who tried to stop them in a Walmart. They died by their own hands. On June 5, 2014, a gunman at Seattle Pacific University shot one student and injured two others before being stopped with pepper spray and disarmed by a student. This came on the heels of another shooting in May in Isla Vista, California, where a man stabbed his three roommates to death, shot and killed three others, and injured 13 others—eight by gunshot and four by hitting them with his car. He died by his own hand. Similar incidents have received widespread attention: Newtown, Connecticut; Virginia Tech; and Fort Hood stand out in recent memory because of their coverage by the mass media. However, these events represent only a small fraction of gun violence in the United States. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence reports that “on average, 32 Americans are murdered with guns every day and 140 are treated for a gun assault in an emergency room.” As was the case in the killings at ThurstonHigh School, ColumbineHigh School, and Virginia Tech, many expected stronger gun control legislation

Our Killing Schools

On Friday, December 14, 2012, a deranged 20-year-old walked into Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, and executed 20 young children and six teachers and administrators. The killer, Adam Lanza was the most recent in a long line of teenage or near-teenage boys who have committed mass murder at a public school. The statistics are frightening. Between 1997 and 2012, ten boys have killed 73 students, parents, and teachers, and wounded 99 more, in the nine most well publicized school shootings. Previously unknown places such as Pearl, Mississippi (1997); West Paducah, Kentucky (1997); Jonesboro, Arkansas (1998); Springfield, Oregon (1998); Littleton, Colorado (1999); Santee, California (2001); Red Lake, Minnesota (2005); and Chardon, Ohio (2012) have become a part of the American consciousness. The best known of these ten killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, massacred 13 students and teachers at Columbine High School and then killed themselves. The boys’ original goal (planned over a year before the attack) was to bomb and level the entire school in a series of massive explosions and then to shoot everyone left alive. They hoped to kill every single person at the school (over 2,000 students, plus 150 teachers and staff). Less well known to Americans but no less shocking is the fact that scores of boys around the United States have been arrested since 1999 for conspiracy to commit large-scale shootings and bombings at their respective schools. Here are just a few examples. In Fort Collins, Colorado, three boys were arrested in 2001 for attempting to carry-out a “Columbine-like” massacre with propane bombs and semi-automatic rifles. Their plan was to shoot as many people as possible and to then take 10 seventh-graders hostage, execute them, and then kill themselves. That same year, three teenage boys were arrested in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for conspiracy to commit mass murder at their school. After the killing spree, they planned to meet on the school roof, drink alcohol, smoke pot, drop acid, and then shoot each other in the head. Three years later, a 17year-old boy in Nebraska was arrested at his school with 20 homemade bombs and a rifle. According to officials, the boy “intended to kill everyone in the school except three friends.” On December 14, 2012— the same day as the Sandy Hook massacre—an 18-year-old boy in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, was arrested for conspiracy to launch a massive bombing and shooting attack at his high school. Despite statistics suggesting that overall school violence has declined in recent years, millions of parents send their children to school every year worried they may never come home. And with every new school shooting or attempted bombing, many Americans experience a sense of deja

The Hartford Consensus: How to Maximize Survivability in Active Shooter and Intentional Mass Casualty Events

The recent events at the Boston Marathon bombings, the bombing at the shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and the shootings at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC continue to make it clear that active shooter and intentional mass casualty incidents require comprehensive responses to increase survival and minimize disabilities. The Joint Committee to Create a National Policy to Enhance Survivability from Mass Casualty Shooting Events was formed to identify the needed changes to improve survival. It was initiated by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) in an effort to ensure that victims receive expeditious treatment of their injuries. On 2 April and 11 July 2013, a group of select representatives from national public safety organizations that included health, law enforcement, fire, prehospital care, trauma care, and the military met in Hartford, Connecticut, USA to suggest strategies to increase survivability from active shooter and intentional mass casualty events. The concepts supported by both meetings have become known as the Hartford Consensus [1, 2]. The overarching principle of the Hartford Consensus is that the current response and management of these events needs to change. Lessons learned from previous events make this clear. An analysis of the emergency medical response at Columbine High School in Colorado revealed that there was significant delay and some victims may have died waiting for medical treatment [3]. More recently, at the Los Angeles Airport shooting on 1 November 2013, an officer was wounded and left unattended for 33 min even though for most of that time there was no threat from the suspected gunman [4]. The officer had no signs of life upon arrival at the medical center and was unable to be revived. Delays such as these are not acceptable. There are several reasons for the delay in attending to victims. The response to events is hindered by the lack of a unified command structure and common language of the various responding groups. Because these events typically happen in a very short time, any delay in formulating a coordinated response can mean the difference between life or death for the victims. Traditionally, responding police officers have focused on suppressing the shooter. Until that is accomplished, treating victims is a secondary objective. Providing hemorrhage control has not been one of their responsibilities. The desire to provide a safe environment for emergency medical services (EMS) has prevented access to victims until law enforcement grants them access. This philosophy has resulted in medical responders waiting at the perimeter of the event. Law enforcement in the past has focused on management of the crime scene and collecting and preserving evidence to the detriment of victim survival. The Hartford Consensus has declared that these response issues must be eliminated and the expeditious attention to victim survival is a priority. The Hartford Consensus produced two documents [1, 2]. The first describes the fundamental concepts to increase survival and the second is a call to action. The call to action is that no one should die from uncontrolled bleeding. An acronym summarizes the needed response: THREAT (T indicates threat suppression, H for hemorrhage control, RE for rapid extrication of the victims from the scene, A for assessment by medical providers, and T for transport to definitive care). Although responders may include the public, law enforcement, EMS/fire/rescue, and definitive trauma care, hemorrhage control must be seen as a core law enforcement responsibility. L. Jacobs (&) Academic Affairs, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, USA e-mail: lenworth.jacobs@hhchealth.org

The Mission-Oriented Shooter: A New Type of Mass Killer

Mass shootings like the ones we have witnessed in recent years at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, the Colorado movie theater, the Tasso da Silveira Municipal School in Rio de Janiero, Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Amish school, and on the small island of Utoeya, Norway, have stunned the world. These tragedies have fueled debates about issues such as gun control, mental health, violent videos, bullying behavior, and the role these issues play in how and why the crimes occur as well as how to prevent the next one. To understand the complexities of this extreme behavior and the pathology of the shooter, with the goal of preventing similar events, an in-depth analysis of these crimes from a behavioral perspective is critical. The term active shooter is used to describe an individual who is killing or attempting to kill people in a public or populated location. However, this term falls short of giving us important, detailed, in-depth behavioral descriptors and definining the differences in mass shooters in terms of their planning and preparation, organization, motive, and degree of lethality. A number of years ago, I coined the term mission-oriented shooter to describe a special type of mass shooter whose mission is to kill as many people as possible, or to achieve maximum lethality. Language: en

The Hartford Consensus: THREAT, A Medical Disaster Preparedness Concept

Mass murder through active shooter and explosive events has been at the forefront of our news. Despite improvements in both law enforcement tactics and emergency trauma care, additional integration of the core functions of the public safety response to these events has the potential to maximize survivability. From the mass casualty shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, through the shootings at SandyHook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, an examination of events will demonstrate some improvement. However, we must continue to hone our response. Perhaps no incident has changed both law enforcement and fire/rescue/emergencymedical services (EMS) response like the Columbine High School shooting. At that time, traditional law enforcement response doctrine dictated waiting for tactical personnel to arrive to secure the school. During this waiting time, some of the fatalities and some of the morbidity among survivors were due to unchecked hemorrhage and shock. Nearly 8 years later, a clear transition in active shooter response was evident on the campus of Virginia Tech University, where the initial response included 2 tactical medics who provided care, predominantly hemorrhage control and airway management, long before the scene was secured. The mass casualty shooting incident at Foot Hood military base resulted in 13 dead and 31 wounded. An officer was able to stop the shooter, but sustained bilateral thigh wounds with significant hemorrhage from the left lower extremity. An Army medic

Grassroots Memorials. The Politics of Memorializing Traumatic Death. Edited by Peter Jan Margry and Cristina Sanchez-Carretero (New York: Berghahn Books, 2011. x plus 374 pp.)

We are living in a time of “memorial mania,” in popular culture as much as in academic publishing. This is not to say that all traumatic deaths are seen as warranting attention, let alone public displays of grief. On April 20, 1999, for instance, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a forty-five minute shooting spree at Columbine High School, killing twelve students, one teacher, and then themselves. The day after the massacre, makeshift shrines began being set up near the campus, many of which contained strong Christian messages. This would not have been remarkable if not for the intervention of Greg Zanis, who erected fifteen six-foot tall crosses on a hill adjacent to the school: that is, crosses for all those killed, including the shooters. The furore was immediate. Some people attached messages of reconciliation: “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do,” read one. Others attacked the two crosses, posting signs reading “Murderers burn in hell.” Similar scenes were replayed when local people sought to include the perpetrators of shootings at Virginia Tech University (April 16, 2007) and Northern Illinois University (February 14, 2008) in their commemorative sites, illustrating the profoundly disruptive nature of shrines that strayed beyond the norm. The messages left at these shrines also exposed the conflict between Christian forgiveness and secular retribution. Furthermore, unlike the shrines following 9/11, these school shrines were resolutely non-political: gun control, mental illness, and youth alienation were hardly ever mentioned.

Fatal school shootings and the epidemiological context of firearm mortality in the United States.

Background The December 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, USA, vaulted concerns regarding gun violence to the forefront of public attention. This high-visibility incident occurred within the epidemiological context of U.S. firearm mortality that claims more than 88 lives daily.Methods National epidemiologic data on firearm deaths over two decades were analyzed along with data registries on school shootings in order to place the tragedy at Sandy Hook in perspective. School shootings were classified as random or targeted.Results The U.S. has the highest rates of firearm deaths, suicides, and homicides among the world’s 34 “advanced economies.” Seventy percent of U.S. homicides and more than 50% of U.S. suicides are committed using a firearm. U.S. firearm homicide rates first declined, and then stabilized, during the past 23 years, 1990-2012. “Shooting massacres” in school settings, a new phenomenon within the past 50 years, are extremely rare events. Over 23 years, 1990-2012, 215 fatal school shooting incidents resulted in 363 deaths, equivalent to 0.12% of national firearm homicides during that time period. Most episodes were “targeted” shootings in which the perpetrator intentionally killed a specific individual in a school setting. Only 25 of these 215 events (11.6%) were “random” or “rampage” shootings, resulting in 135 deaths (0.04% of national firearm homicides). Among these, just three shooting rampages – Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University, and Sandy hook Elementary School – accounted for 72 (53.3%) of these 135 deaths. The frequency of random/rampage shooting incidents in schools has remained within the narrow range of 0 to 3 episodes per year.Conclusions Each year, more than 32,000 Americans die by firearms and more than 70,000 are wounded, representing a volume of preventable deaths and injuries that the U.S. government describes as a “public health crisis.” School massacres, such as Sandy Hook, occur periodically, galvanizing public reaction and bringing forth a collective call for intervention. Epidemiological analyses position these rare, but uniquely compelling, incidents within the broader national patterns of gun violence. The intention is to inform the selection of a balanced, comprehensive set of effective remedies to address the daily death toll from firearm suicides and “targeted” firearm homicides that account for more than 99% of firearm fatalities; as well as the rare, random, and sporadic rampage shootings in school or community settings.

Miami-Dade Schools Adopt Foundation’s ‘Typical or Troubled?’ Program

It’s not easy to assess whether teens need mental health care, but the Miami-Dade County public school system adopts an American Psychiatric Foundation program in an effort to get the answers.

Newtown Organizes MH Services For the Long Term

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Community NewsFull AccessNewtown Organizes MH Services For the Long TermAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Feb 2013https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2013.2a12AbstractMental health providers in Newtown, Conn., collaborate to plan long-term care for townspeople after December’s deadly school shooting.The big St. Bernard lay on the floor in the hallway, waiting to have its belly rubbed.Irvin Jennings, M.D., supervises Mikey the Therapy Dog at the Reed Intermediate School in Newtown, Conn., after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in DecemberIrvin Jennings, M.D.True, St. Bernards aren’t part of the standard psychiatry residency, but this one and 14 other canines of varying breeds joined the resources gathered in the family assistance center set up in Newtown, Conn., after the shooting rampage last December that left 20 children and seven adults dead.A therapy-dog organization brought the St. Bernard and friends, Save the Children set up an arts-and-crafts room, and three mental health organizations provided more-conventional care at the Reed Intermediate School in Newtown.Wellmore, a mental health services organization with expertise in mobile crisis services; Danbury Hospital; and Family and Children’s Aid (FCA) collaborated on operating a site to which people affected by the tragedy could go for therapy or just a sympathetic ear, said FCA’s executive and medical director, Irvin Jennings, M.D.“What evolved was a wonderful model,” Jennings told Psychiatric News. “It was part grief counseling and part kids’ play area.”Each organization had staff members there every day for the following week, with FCA doing administrative work (like vetting the credentials of volunteer counselors) as well as providing clinical services. The dogs “just showed up,” said Jennings. Kids could pet the dogs or do art projects while their parents talked with counselors. The center logged at least 1,350 encounters in its first 10 days of operation.Even the dogs played well together, he said.Eventually, a collection of town and state agencies, along with representatives from the school district and local government, coalesced with the three groups running the crisis center into a coordinating council, said Charles Herrick, M.D., chief of psychiatry at Danbury Hospital. The council is now assessing community needs and organizing the transition to longer-term services“We hope to establish some kind of ongoing drop-in center to provide information and have clinicians available to do screening and refer as needed,” said Herrick in an interview. “Our plan is to build capacity with trained clinicians.”The council will start by creating a list of three sets of clinicians: those who are already seeing affected children and families, those with specific training in trauma-focused care, and those who will need training in such care.Psychologist Stephen Marans, Ph.D., of the Yale Child Study Center, and Steven Southwick, M.D., a posttraumatic stress disorder specialist at the West Haven Veterans Affairs Medical Center, will lead the training.Danbury Hospital has only a small child and adolescent psychiatry department, so it will concentrate on adult services while linking younger people to primary care physicians, he said. The hospital will train the latter to use screening tools and look for somatic complaints in children that may have been triggered by the event.In the longer term, coordination for local resources will be managed by Newtown Youth and Family Services, said Jennings. Local resources should be adequate to serve those who need services.“This is a pretty therapy-rich area, between private practices and nonprofit agencies,” he said. “People in Newtown want to stay in Newtown, so we’re trying to be sensitive to that view.”The coordinating council must build for the long term, said Herrick. At one early meeting, a state official reported that health officials from Colorado’s Columbine High School and Aurora, Colo., scenes of previous mass shootings, had called to offer support. They also noted that people in those towns reexperienced their own tragedies when they heard about Newtown.“So we have to make a longstanding commitment in our community to have services available,” said Herrick.Perhaps that will also mean having that St. Bernard on call. ■The Newtown Youth and Family Services’ Web site is http://www.newtownyouthandfamilyservices.org. ISSUES NewArchived