March 22, 2005

CHICAGO – Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota, St. Paul, is offering professional counseling and trauma support services in Red Lake, Minn., after a student killed five others students, a teacher and school security guard, and wounded several others at Red Lake High School before killing himself March 21. Other victims included the student's grandfather and the grandfather's wife.

Red Lake High School is located on the Red Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota is offering grief support services to the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, families, friends and others in the Red Lake community.

According to Melanie Josephson Davis, director of disaster response, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota, communities of faith can respond by providing "safety and security. In the first few days, people are experiencing trauma, and it is so important to help people feel safe."

"Survivors need to ventilate and validate, which is expressing their emotions and having someone to listen and validate their feelings and thoughts. As the impact of loss begins to sink in, people need to be there to provide long-term grief support. Helping people affected by trauma to explore and determine how they can learn from the trauma, become stronger and get the help they need during a difficult time are also important," she said. "Congregations in the area also need to be open to receive people and help them as they're struggling."

Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is a partner organization of Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota.

"Lutheran Disaster Response will support its partner organization in any way needed to provide the kind of counseling work and grief processing that will need to take place in this community. We are willing and ready," said Heather L. Feltman, director of Lutheran Disaster Response.

ELCA News Service