MUSC-based center offers help in aftermath of Wisconsin school shooting

The National Mass Violence Center, based at the Medical University of South Carolina, is offering help to the community of Madison, Wisconsin, following a school shooting. The center, established in 2017 in partnership with the Office for Victims of Crime in the U.S. Department of Justice, uses evidence-based information and resources to help survivors of mass violence and others affected by such incidents.

Alyssa Rheingold, Ph.D., director of the Response, Recovery and Resilience Division for the center and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC, is part of the team that helps in the immediate aftermath of mass violence and in the months and years that follow. In this Q&A, she explains the center’s role.

Q: What is the National Mass Violence Center doing in response to the incident that left three people dead, including the shooter, at Abundant Life Christian School?

A: The role of the National Mass Violence Center is to provide evidence-based information and resources for the community on response and recovery efforts, as well as information about what to expect in the aftermath of mass violence.

Q: Does the center offer “boots on the ground” in such cases – in other words, does the NMVC send experts to the location?

A: Initially, we typically offer resources from a distance. At times, we've been called in, not to provide direct services for victims or survivors, but to support the local community victim service efforts.When an incident occurs, we quickly organize a tailored list of resources that might be helpful for victims and survivors in the community, specific to the circumstances of the incident. We also reach out to our partnering organizations as well as contacts we may have in communities, just to let them be aware of our resources and the support that we could provide. 

We have 19 different national partnering organizations that we coordinate and collaborate with. So we’ve developed a robust approach to coordinating and collaborating with our partners to get information out as soon as possible. And in the past few years, we've also expanded our scope to provide additional consultation and support around mental/ behavioral health response and recovery efforts.

Q: Can you talk a little bit more about that? That sounds like an important part of what you do.

A: We provide consultation to the local community around best practices and evidence-based early intervention and long-term interventions that might support the mental health recovery of individuals and the community at large after mass violence. 

We work with victim service organizations and mental and behavioral health organizations to understand what the capacity in that community is. What is their capacity to provide trauma-informed, evidence-based interventions to foster recovery after mass violence? We can offer just-in-time trainings and consultation to organizations and communities impacted as well.

Q: Your center’s mission statement says you offer evidence-based information and services. How do research and science impact your team’s approach?

A: The National Mass Violence Center is embedded within an academic institution, so science is always going to inform what we do. And I think that's what makes what we do useful - because it’s embedded in that academic approach. 

We are informing what we're doing a couple ways. One, by direct contact and working with communities. But we’re also continuing to pay attention to what the field is saying in the trauma and mass violence space. So we’re always looking at the latest research in the field. 

Add to that the fact that we're very active with a number of academic institutions that are also involved in this important work, and with national and international associations. We’re doing some of our own research and evaluation as well in mass violence-impacted communities to gather information about the long-term effects on community members at large and with direct and indirect victims. 

Q: As a psychologist, what would you want the public to keep in mind as people process yet another violent incident?

A: First, it is OK to recognize and acknowledge our feelings of fear, sadness, disbelief and grief.  We may need to practice coping strategies to take care of ourselves. Look for areas that foster hope. For instance, pay attention to the helpers. 

When an incident like this occurs, it has long-lasting effects. So we don't ever get back to the way we were, we don't bounce back to the way we were, but we learn how to carry these incidents as part of our life journey. And it's just learning how to find meaning and purpose in life and joy at the same time as carrying these types of traumas and grief. 

It's that duality of how do you find that? How do you do both? How do you tend to that grief and loss and trauma, which need to be attended to and not avoided? And how do we continue to lead a meaningful and purposeful life?

The NMVC has several resources for victims and survivors who may be impacted by the Madison shooting or any other mass violence incident.  Visit the Virtual Resilience Center at and download the NMVC Transcend App. It’s a free self-help app available on Apple or Android. Get resources specifically related to the Madison incident here.