Resilience Center becomes de facto hub for anyone looking for help, not just theater victims

AURORA | When people need help, Grace Zolnosky has become a go-to person.

Zolnosky fields dozens of calls every day at the Aurora Strong Community Resilience Center. But since the center opened on the one-year anniversary of the July 20, 2012 Aurora theater shootings, the calls she’s been getting often have nothing to do with the theater tragedy.

During the past two months, Zolnosky, resilience center manager, has helped immigrants get connected with citizenship classes, helped low-income Aurora residents get connected to Medicare and Medicaid services, and helped unemployed people find jobs. Sometimes, she gets calls from people who are just having bad days and don’t really want to talk to a psychologist. She talks with them, comforts them, tells them they’re not alone, and asks if they’d like to join one of dozens of free classes — yoga, stress management, meditation, faith-based discussions, dance.

Although the center was created in response to the Aurora theater shooting to provide comfort and help to victims and the city, it has morphed into a community center for broad-spectrum healing and help.

“There are a lot of people who just need resources,” Zolnosky said.

The center, located in the basement level of the old Hoffman Heights Library at 1298 Peoria Street, now has about 500 people participating in individual counseling and group therapy services, as well as arts and crafts classes, exercise classes and using it for meeting spaces.

Many people who have no connection to the Aurora theater shooting use the space as a safe haven. One woman recently moved to Aurora from Arkansas and has made the center her second-home, Zolnosky said. She was caring for her mother full-time, but after her mother died this past spring, she was devastated. She’s unemployed and living in a north Aurora motel, and comes to the resilience center all the time. “It’s become just a huge part of her life,” she said. Zolnosky is helping her find a job.

For the victims of the Aurora theater shooting, the resilience center has been invaluable, they say.

“It’s been really great to be able to share experiences with people and create that sense of community that wasn’t already there,” said Megan Sullivan, sister of Alex Sullivan who died in the shootings.

Sullivan launched a support group for female victims of the shooting. She says she’s seen women who never sought mental health help in the wake of the shootings join the support group. One female victim in particular said she didn’t know how she went an entire year without talking about the shooting until now, Sullivan said.

Sullivan also helped launch a new meditation class after she found solace in meditation. “It’s focused around your personal being and being able to be fulfilled with everything you have,” she said. “It really helped me out a lot.”

In the future, resilience center staff say they’ll launch Tai Chi classes, exercise classes for busy moms, and support groups for gay and lesbian residents.

Large donations and grants covered the cost to keep the resilience center open and pay for staff salaries through the beginning of 2015. The cost was about $330,000, and Zolnosky is still searching for permanent funding.

Over two months, the resilience center has helped dozens of people feel safe and welcome — whether they have deep psychologically traumatic issues to overcome or not, Sullivan said.

“That’s what’s so nice about the resilience center, is that not all their classes are about sitting around in a circle and talking about feelings,” she said. “You can take yoga, or an art class, and those are very therapeutic activities where you just have time to yourself.”

Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.

To find out more about the Aurora Strong Resilience Center or to donate, visit 720recovery.org.