AURORA | An idea to open a temporary therapeutic center for residents affected by the July 20 theater massacre and other tragedies is garnering mixed feelings from some Aurora City Council members.
The “Resiliency Center” would offer individual and group counseling, art and music therapy programs, physical activity programs and maybe even on-site primary medical care, and it would be open to all Aurora residents who have experienced any kind of trauma.
Council members are set to formally discuss the possibility of opening the center in the lower level of the vacant Hoffman Heights Library at their day-long winter meeting Feb. 9.
But some council members are wondering ahead of the meeting whether there is any real demand for that type of project, which would cost about $35,000.
“There’s nothing that demonstrates that this is what’s needed,” said Councilwoman Molly Markert.
She said it would be a waste for the city or any community organization to spend money to fund a project with no demonstrated need and no business plan. She said she’s talked to some local teens, including some who were directly connected with the theater shooting, and none of them had any interest in the concept of a Resiliency Center. Instead, Mark- ert said the teens are more interested in city officials coming up with ways to curb gun violence.
“Kids want some sense of security that adults aren’t giving them,” she said.
If council members agree Feb. 9 to move forward with the proposal, the center would open in the spring and remain open to Aurora residents for up to two years. The estimated ongoing costs would be about $35,000, which would be funded largely through grants.
The center would be located near the youth activities center planned for the main floor of the Hoffman Heights Library. According to the city documents, the resiliency center would “create an approachable, community-based place where people feel comfortable connecting with others and services to encourage their healing process.”
Councilman Bob LeGare said he supports the idea. “It would be a fantastic service to members of the community that have been impacted by the July 20 tragedy and others,” he said. He said the center could also appeal to people who might be intimidated or ashamed of going to a mental health center.
It would even be worthwhile to look at the possibility of keeping the center open permanently, LeGare said, because the shock of the July 20 tragedy will linger for years.
Councilwoman Sally Mounier said she is confident that victims of traumatic experiences will take advantage of the resources that would be offered at the center. She said she’s met with a survivor of the 1999 Columbine shootings whose family continues to be traumatized by mass shootings still to this day. There are people who will continue to be emotionally affect- ed by the July 20 shootings even if they don’t show signs of trauma or shock now, she said.
“This is going to be a very long-term thing for people,” she said. “It doesn’t just go away.”
Members of the 7/20 Recovery Committee came up with the idea for a Resiliency Center after discussions about the long-term healing process in the wake of the theater tragedy. It has been nearly seven months since the July 20 theater shootings that killed 12 and wounded 70, but Karen Morales, spokeswoman for the committee, said it often takes months before someone recognizes that they are being impacted by traumatic stress. Research shows that demand for mental and emotional health services peaks at nine months after the tragedy and then drops gradually until the two-year anniversary, according to city documents. Communities that don’t respond to post-event stress see increases in domestic violence and divorce, family dysfunction, substance abuse, increases in drop-out rates and fatalities due to suicide, according to the documents.
Morales said the committee thought an all-under-one-roof community resource that promotes healing and resiliency would be beneficial to the city.
“The idea of resilience is really the ability of individuals to adapt to change in stressful events, whether that’s a tremendously traumatic, broad event or a personal traumatic event, or a day-to-day stress,” Morales said.
The center would offer on-site counseling, creative therapy, physical activity programs and information about other resources in the surrounding Aurora community. The City of Aurora would partner with community organizations including Aurora Mental Health and the University of Colorado Anschutz Health and Wellness Center to offer services at the Resliency Center.
“The idea is to take services and programs that for the most part are already being provided somewhere in the community, and pull them together in a one-stop-shop, with the focus being on teaching resiliency skills,” Morales said.
Morales said the committee will be reaching out to the victims of the July 20 theater shootings to see if the Resiliency Center would benefit them.
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.
Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.