VENTURA, Calif. - September 30, 2022 - (Newswire.com)
Five years later, Give an Hour® is still supporting Southern California survivors and families of the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooting in Las Vegas by attending five-year remembrance activities Friday, Sept. 30 through Sunday, Oct. 2 in Las Vegas.
Give an Hour's Route 91 Heals team has provided much support - most notably with its peer support program, which gives survivors the opportunity to help their own. Peer supporters have lived through the same experience as those they are helping, and their role is to offer support focused on advocacy, education, mentoring and motivation.
"Peer support shows you how to advance your own healing," said Molly Maurer, survivor of the Route 91 Harvest Festival and Borderline mass shootings, and peer support lead and program coordinator for Give an Hour. "It allowed me to listen to myself and anticipate things so I could help myself, and, in turn, help others."
Each peer supporter receives approximately 20 hours of coaching and training with courses that include motivational interviewing techniques, trauma-informed peer support, active listening skills, coping mechanisms and suicide awareness and prevention. They are not licensed mental health providers.
"Peer support is powerful and offers a personal perspective you won't receive in traditional therapy," said Trina Clayeux, Ph.D., CEO of Give an Hour. "After a tragedy, there are many immediate needs, but our Route 91 Heals team is still going strong five years later, and this is just a small piece of what we can offer survivors of mass violence here and elsewhere."
The Route 91 Heals team offers many options to meet the needs of survivors and families who are in varying stages of healing. Survivor support groups led by licensed practitioners meet online, virtual wellness and resiliency workshops and individual counseling are also available. The team also hosts Emotional Life Skills courses and webinars on self-care, grief and the holidays, and even recreational gatherings focused on community-building.
"The Give an Hour peer support program filled a need for the survivors and families in Southern California," said Tennille Pereira, director of the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center. "The geographical uniqueness of this tragedy presented a challenge, and they were more than up to the task."
The Route 91 Heals program is funded by the Ventura County District Attorney's Office and works in partnership with the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, the California Victim Compensation Board and the Family Justice Center of Ventura County.
About Give an Hour
Founded in 2005, Give an Hour® is a nonprofit dedicated to transforming mental health by building strong and healthy individuals and communities. We provide no-cost counseling through a network of volunteer mental health professionals and empower community through collaborative programs, peer support and educational opportunities benefiting both clients and providers. We focus on people impacted by military service, mass violence, the opioid epidemic, and interpersonal violence.
Contact Information:
Kim Antley
Communications Coordinator
kantley@giveanhour.org
713-560-3680
Kristin Richardson
Director of Communications and PR
krichardson@giveanhour.org
202-491-8139
Related Files
MASS VIOLENCE ONE-PAGER.pdf
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Original Source: Route 91 Journey to Healing Paved With Peers, Support
