Victims applied for and in some cases\u00a0were approved for financial benefits on the spot, Chief Deputy District Attorney Mike Jump said Thursday. They could also receive\u00a0limited counseling from mental health professionals.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Rachael Watkins, who supervises the crime victims assistance program in the District Attorney\u2019s Office, said the psychological trauma from an event like this is long-lasting.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone who has walked through this door has been traumatized,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Some are not able to sleep, are hiding in their houses and afraid to go outside, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not able to function as they used to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The center follows a federal model called the Family Assistance Center. The concept was developed based on the experiences of families affected by\u00a0aviation disasters and terrorist attacks. It has been replicated for the responses to mass shootings around the country, Jump said.<\/p>\n
Victims visited staff members in offices at the center and could close the doors for privacy, Jump said.<\/p>\n
They\u00a0could apply for financial assistance both big and small, officials said. Funding from the California Victim Compensation Board will help pay for funeral and burial expenses, medical bills and home security devices among other costs.<\/p>\n
The Ventura County Community Foundation had funding available for expenses that could not be covered in any other way, such as a lost or damaged cellphone, Jump said. Information on work training programs and potential job placement was also available, he said.<\/p>\n
Mental health professionals from the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department and the Interface agency provided\u00a0counseling to those who wanted it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes people need to be assured that what they\u2019re going through is perfectly normal,\u201d\u00a0psychologist John Schipper said.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0advised people to be kind to themselves and go back to doing the things they enjoy. Sleep\u00a0and nutritious meals are important along with exercise, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever you\u2019re doing is likely your way of taking care of yourself,\u201d said the chief of the adult division at the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department.<\/p>\n
Schipper said he\u2019s heard people say that as long as they don\u2019t talk about the experience, it seems like \u201ca dream.\u201d But it\u2019s\u00a0healthier to talk about it than to keep it inside and ruminate over it, he said.<\/p>\n
Victims received cards with the names of victim advocates to call after the center closes, Jump said. The advocates also will call and check to see how they\u2019re doing over the next year or longer, Watkins said.<\/p>\n
Forums for survivors are planned, Watkins said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we\u2019re in this for the long, long haul,\u201d Jump said.<\/p>\n
For additional information, contact the Crime Victims Assistance Program at 805-654-3622.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-coverage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vccf.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}