When Tragedy Strikes and Healing the Wounds of a School Shooting
- Brainz Magazine
- Aug 29
- 6 min read
Dr. Charryse Johnson is an author, speaker, and mental health consultant whose work focuses on the intersection of integrative wellness, neuroscience, and mental health.
On August 27, 2025, Minneapolis was rocked by a school shooting that left two children dead and many others injured. This article delves into the lasting impact of such tragedies and outlines practical strategies for healing. Dr. Charryse Johnson offers guidance on how to support communities and individuals through the traumatic aftermath, emphasizing the importance of connection, rituals, and emotional regulation in the recovery process.
A community shaken
On August 27, 2025, Minneapolis was forever changed. During a morning Mass at Annunciation Catholic School, a gunman opened fire, leaving two children dead and many others injured. The ripple effects of this tragedy extend far beyond the immediate victims. Families, educators, first responders, and even those who have lived through past shootings find themselves reliving trauma, facing fresh fear, and wondering how we begin to heal in the aftermath of the unthinkable.
As a therapist, mother, and mental fitness consultant, I have witnessed firsthand the way trauma fractures a community, but also how resilience emerges in surprising ways. Healing after an event like this is not quick, and it is not simple, but it is possible.
Why our brains struggle after tragedy
To understand why events like school shootings feel so destabilizing, we must look at what happens in the brain. When faced with trauma, the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for scanning for danger, goes into overdrive. This floods the body with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, preparing us for fight, flight, or freeze.
At the same time, the prefrontal cortex, the region that helps us reason, problem-solve, and calm ourselves, becomes less active. This is why children may cling or regress, why adults may feel foggy or short-tempered, and why even those far from Minneapolis are struggling to sleep after seeing the headlines. Trauma doesn’t just live in the mind; it imprints itself on the nervous system.
But here’s the hope: neuroscience also tells us that safety, connection, and supportive rituals help re-engage the prefrontal cortex and regulate the nervous system. In other words, our brains are wired not only to survive trauma but also to heal.
A case example: A teacher’s story
In one of my past consultations, I worked with a teacher who had survived a school shooting years before. After the event, she found herself hypervigilant, startled by sudden noises, scanning constantly for exits, and struggling to sleep. When another national school shooting hit the headlines, all of her symptoms returned as if the trauma had just occurred.
Through therapy, she learned that these “relapses” were not signs of weakness but the nervous system remembering. By practicing grounding techniques, placing her feet firmly on the floor, and naming five things she could see, hear, and feel, she was able to calm her amygdala and bring her prefrontal cortex back online. With time, she reclaimed her classroom as a place of both learning and safety.
This story illustrates what so many survivors and community members may experience in the wake of the Minneapolis tragedy: the body remembers. But with tools, support, and connection, healing is not only possible, it is sustainable.
Tangible steps toward healing
1. Create safe space rituals
Families can begin by establishing small, consistent practices at home. A 10-minute “safe space ritual” each evening, phones off, TV off, everyone gathered, offers children the predictability their brains crave after chaos.
2. “Name it to tame it”
When emotions run high, help children and adults alike put words to what they’re feeling. Neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Siegel coined the phrase “name it to tame it.” By labeling an emotion, “I feel scared,” “I feel sad”, the prefrontal cortex activates, calming the amygdala. This simple practice decreases emotional overwhelm and restores a sense of control.
3. Grounding for educators and staff
Teachers, staff, and clergy often carry a double weight: their own grief and the responsibility of protecting others. Beginning the day with grounding rituals, a deep breath, a moment of silence, or a short gratitude exercise can calm the body’s stress response. These moments not only regulate adults’ nervous systems but also send powerful “safety signals” to students walking into the classroom.
4. Limit exposure to distressing media
In our 24-hour news cycle, repeated images and stories can re-traumatize both children and adults. For younger children, limit access to graphic coverage. For adults, set intentional boundaries around when and how you consume news. This isn’t denial, it’s emotional stewardship.
5. Acknowledge the wounds of the past
For families and survivors of past school shootings, this tragedy may reopen deep wounds. Their grief and anxiety are valid. It’s important to remind them: this is not regression, it is the body remembering. Re-engaging with therapy, journaling, prayer, or support groups can bring grounding and help distinguish past pain from present danger.
Checklist for resilience
For those wondering how to move forward, here are seven clinically grounded practices that foster healing after community trauma:
Maintain daily routines, predictability helps regulate the nervous system.
Practice co-regulation, sit with others, breathe together, or engage in communal rituals.
Use grounding techniques, notice your breath, plant your feet, or engage the five senses.
Limit media exposure, avoid repeated images that reinforce fear circuits in the brain.
Label emotions out loud, activate the prefrontal cortex by naming fear, sadness, or anger.
Seek professional support; therapy offers tools to process trauma beyond what self-care can hold.
Reconnect with meaning and hope through spirituality, service, or creative expression.
Healing as a collective effort
Communities are strongest when they come together. Research shows that co-regulation, the process of calming one another through presence, empathy, and shared rituals, can be more powerful than trying to process trauma alone. This is why vigils, prayer services, and support circles matter. They provide a place for grief to be witnessed, which allows healing to take root.
I often remind my clients: healing doesn’t happen in isolation; it happens in connection. Trauma fragments us; community helps piece us back together.
The long road of recovery
It’s tempting, especially in a culture driven by quick fixes, to believe grief has an end date. But healing from mass violence is an ongoing process. For some, anxiety may spike months later when children return to school. For others, sadness will surface on anniversaries or in unexpected moments. This is normal. Healing is not about “getting over it”; it’s about learning to carry the weight differently.
As parents, educators, and leaders, our role is not to remove every trace of pain, but to provide consistent reminders that better is possible, that fear does not have the final word.
A therapist’s heartfelt reminder
In my clinical practice, I see how many people believe their emotions are a burden, something to silence or push aside. But unspoken grief festers. To every child, parent, teacher, and survivor touched by this tragedy: your feelings are not too much. You are not a burden. And you do not have to walk this road alone.
Our greatest act of resistance against violence is to choose connection over isolation, compassion over silence, and love over fear.
Closing reflection
As we honor the lives lost in Minneapolis and stand beside every family shaken by this tragedy, let us remember:
Grief is a sign of love, not weakness.
Healing is not linear, but it is possible.
And together, through compassion and connection, we can create communities resilient enough to hold both sorrow and hope.
“While fear seeks to divide us, resilience reminds us we are never powerless when we stand as one.”
Dr. Charryse Johnson, Expert Mental Health Consultant
Dr. Charryse Johnson is an author, speaker, and mental health consultant whose work focuses on the intersection of integrative wellness, neuroscience, and mental health. She is the founder of Jade Integrative Counseling and Wellness, an integrative therapy practice where personal values, the search for meaning, and the power of choice are the central focus. Dr.Johnson works with clients and organizations across the nation and has an extensive background and training in education, crisis and trauma, neuroscience, and identity development.
