SUPPORTING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE WAKE OF TRAUMA

The violence that took the life of University of Arizona hydrology professor and department head, Dr. Thomas Meixner, shattered our community’s sense of safety and well-being. I was invited to discuss how we’ve attempted to help the community cope with the trauma of these events. Although not an expert in supporting recovery from trauma, I will share what I’ve learned about practices that were effective in the immediate aftermath, in the months following, and continuing until today to support the mental health and well-being of our community. I will highlight the importance of understanding that people experience and process trauma in different ways. Kindness, respect, and support for different coping mechanisms and personal needs is crucial in the immediate aftermath of trauma. I will discuss the support that we’ve provided the community during the months following the event to facilitate longer term processing of fear, anger, grief, and other emotions. I will characterize some of the lessons learned about vulnerability in our mental health support systems and some of the practices that we have employed for continued support of the mental health needs of our student communities. University of Arizona organizational efforts have also helped to streamline and elevate communication in cases of safety concern to improve mental health. Lastly, I will highlight skills and tools that each of us can use to identify and support people who may be in crisis, but aren’t able to seek the help that they need. This talk is given in honor of Tom Meixner, with the belief that we can improve mental health support for the geosciences community and university communities in general.