AURORA | The city’s trauma recovery center at the former Hoffman Heights Library is currently bare bones.
A few chairs line the main lounge area in the basement of the building, some children’s puzzles are scattered around what will become a play area, and a retro kitchenette is devoid of silverware and food.
By the first anniversary of the July 20 theater shooting, plans are for the place to come to life. Colorful paintings will adorn the walls of the center, inspirational books will line bookshelves, and the counselor’s room will be cozy and inviting.
People will be doing yoga, making art, playing pool, meeting with therapists and developing tools to cope with current and future traumatic experiences, said Karen Morales, spokeswoman for the 7/20 Recovery Committee.
“This isn’t an exclusive place for those who have experienced a trauma,” Morales said. “It’s a place for anyone to come who wants to learn more about how the traumas of day-to-day life can affect us as individuals.”
The Aurora Strong Community Resilience Center opened to victims of the theater shooting June 18 and will formally open to all Aurora residents on July 11.
Free services will be offered at the center including exercise and art classes, and group and individual counseling. Staff at the resilience center will continue to add services at the request of victims and Aurora residents.
“It’s important for us to solicit ideas from people to figure out what can help,” said Kristen Anderson, disaster coordinator for Aurora Mental Health Center. “Social support is the common thread, and I feel like this place can give them that.”
Having a place to share feelings of grief and hope alongside other victims of the theater shooting is important, said Lasamoa Cross, who watched as her boyfriend AJ Boik was killed in the shootings. Cross said group therapy sessions with other victims of the theater shooting would be helpful for her.
“It’s so much harder to talk to people that haven’t really experienced loss like this, or something as traumatic,” she said. “I think it’s magnificent because it’s one of those things where I can talk to those who were there, and that do understand.”
Many victims of the theater shooting are supportive of the idea of the resilience center, Morales said. Some of them even plan on sharing their stories with other people who might be going through personal traumas, she said. Cross said she’d also be interested in that.
“For those who have been there and are on the other side, part of their healing process is passing on that knowledge to those of us who have yet to go through something,” Morales said.
The center takes up the entire basement of the former city library building near East Colfax Avenue and Peoria Street. The city is opening a youth center with a computer lab in the fall on the building’s main level. Large donations and grants covered the cost to keep the resilience center open and pay for staff salaries for 18 months. The cost was about $330,000.
The plan for the center was loosely based off of “Columbine Connections,” a healing center for victims of the Columbine High School shootings and “Project Heartland,” a mental health services center for victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
Kevin Everhart, a psychologist and associate clinical teaching professor at the University of Colorado’s Department of Psychology said the resilience center is an innovative and “excellent” resource for the community.
“This is something that can bring about positive change and help the community cope with and even come to thrive in the face of the 7/20 shootings,” he said in May. “This is a progressive step.”
For many people, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder don’t occur until months or even years after the tragedy or trauma. The resilience center will give people an opportunity to take advantage of services they might not even know they need, Everhart said.
“We have evolved a great many mechanisms for shielding ourselves from anxiety and distress,” he said.
Combining mental health services with active, exercise-focused activities at no cost will be hugely beneficial to the Aurora community, he said.
Partners involved in the creation of the resilience center include the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora Mental Health and the city’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space department. Representatives from the Colorado Organization for Victims Assistance will have regular office hours at the center, and will also be conducting group victim support services.
Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.
The Aurora Strong Community Resilience Center is accepting donations of items including: news racks, coffee tables and side tables, coffee kiosks, regular-sized refrigerator and mini fridge, comfortable, oversized chairs, bookshelves and books. To donate, call Grace Zolnosky at 303-739-1580.