Mass shootings create ripple effect on community mental health
For parents, children, educators, and first-responders, the toll of both mass shootings themselves and the worry of future violence is having a lasting impact on mental health.
Not all impacts can be easily measured, said EMDR-certified trauma therapist Bonnie Rumilly, LCSW, EMT, who provided support in Connecticut following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.
“Anxiety and depression rates are up, but I think there are also a lot of undiagnosed trauma symptoms going around in the population, children and adolescents in particular,” she said. “When children tell their parents they can’t sleep at night, or that they are having intrusive thoughts of what they saw online, there’s a clear A plus B equals C there. But it’s harder to measure just the day-to-day, in and out of hearing one terrible thing after another.”
Children and teens’ exposure to traumatic events via social media, such as the recent murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University plays a role. “It just popped into their [social] feeds, and they were watching someone be murdered,” she said.
According to Gun Violence Archive (GVA) data tracked by CNN, as of September 24 in the United States, there had been 318 mass shootings that injured or killed four or more people (not including the shooter) in 2025.
There were 503 mass shootings in the US total in 2024, the lowest number since 2019, before the increase in gun violence during the pandemic. However, 2024’s total surpassed the total number of shootings recorded in any year from 2013 to 2019.
Threats of violence in educational settings have become all too common. In September, for example, three Massachusetts communities experienced suspected activity that was worrying to students and families returning to school.
• On Sept. 3, the first day of the semester, UMass Lowell was on lockdown for several hours after a video of an individual on campus with what appeared to be a firearm circulated online. It was found to be an airsoft gun.
• On Sept.11, classes at UMass Boston were canceled for the day out of caution after reports of a shooting near campus. No confirmation of gunfire was found.
• On Sept. 26, Falmouth, Mass. police dropped a case against an 18-year-old who had been charged with allegedly threatening to shoot up a school.
Teachers must deal with this issue daily, and often have no training for these types of events. They experience feelings of helplessness, and that can feed into PTSD, even triggering feelings of trauma back to their own childhoods, said Rumilly, co-author of “Helping the Helpers: The Clinician’s Guide to First Responder Mental Wellness.”
“For a lot of adults who are just trying to do the right thing and keep kids safe, it’s really feeding into their own anxiety as well. Everything is more connected than we realize.”
While some in the media or the government may rush to point to mental illness when an incident of mass violence occurs, Rumilly noted it may be more productive to focus on not only gun control but what is happening in society.
“My bigger question is what is or isn’t happening that is contributing to people not being okay. There’s something wrong, and we need to figure it out and support people and human connection.”
What type of supports can mental health professionals and other provide to support children, parents, families, educators, and others? Coping skills are a good place to start, said Rumilly.
“People need tools and strategies that can help them build resilience, so they can focus on the good things that happen around them, not just the bad,” she said. “We as humans are hardwired to focus on the negative, and we also need to focus on what is actually going okay.”
Building human connections is a big part of this, she added. “This includes making sure children have downtime and human connection with a parent or caregiver who cares about them. They can’t just be on their phone or watching TV all the time.”
Structured support, both for children and adults, is also critical. Curricula or outside professionals brought into schools and campuses, or employee assistance programs (EAPs) in the workplace, can be very useful, Rumilly said.
For the mental health professionals providing these supports, practicing what they preach shouldn’t be forgotten. This could mean setting boundaries as to how many patients you can see, limiting your own exposure to the news, or simply knowing when you need to take a break.
“There was a period of time when I thought I could be better therapist if I kept myself abreast of all the news,” Rumilly said. “But I realized that was not what my patients needed from me. They needed me to listen and be there. I keep knowledgeable about what is going on, but I’m [mindful] of what helps me and what doesn’t.”