EAST LANSING, Mich. — February 13 will mark one year since the mass shooting at Michigan State University in East Lansing that changed the Spartan community forever.
“Sometimes people aren't aware that we remember traumatic events in different ways,” said Dr. Valencia Agnew.
Many are still coping with the violence that happened at MSU and the lives lost.
Dr. Agnew said people need to know that getting help is an important part of healing from traumatic experiences and there are many potential side effects people might have. She said some of these effects may be nightmares, flashbacks and general fear.
“I would encourage anyone who has any of those symptoms to not ignore them and not bear it in silence because there's treatment available, there's help available, there are skilled clinicians that can help with this,” Agnew said.
Asking for help, or sometimes accepting the fact that help is needed, is not always easy.
However, one way to offer support to someone dealing with trauma is by acknowledging that getting help is always okay.
“Trauma doesn't just poof go away all by itself,” Agnew said. "It actually can be exacerbated because of how it impacts the brain, so encourage treatment and normalizing that it really is okay, and it really is normal for you to be to have been impacted by the shooting and by the loss by the violence of it all."
MSU remains committed to offering support to the Spartan community and has planned events to create a space for students and families to honor their loved one’s lives.
Dealing with traumatic experiences sometimes causes PTSD and looks different for everyone.
“Some ways that PTSD can look or symptoms of it is a person can have nightmares, and have unwanted memories, flashbacks, nothing that they're in control of or nothing that they're creating, they just pop up, they just show up, they are intrusive,” Agnew said.
When that happens, she said taking a moment to pause, meditate or pray can help bring a person a renewed sense of calm and control to their lives.
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