An independent review panel investigating the response to the Manchester Arena Attack, which saw 22 people tragically die, is requesting that Greater Manchester sign up to a ‘Charter for families bereaved through public tragedy’. The panel, chaired by Lord Bob Kerslake, published a progress report today and is recommending that all public bodies adopt the charter that was inspired by the Hillsborough families and proposed by The Right Reverend James Jones KBE in his recently published report. Read the full interim report here.
The role of some of the media outlets in seeking comments from bereaved families will form part of the review as will the function of social media when such events are unfolding and the impact on victims and their families.
It is also very important that statutory services, including crisis counselling, are provided for victims and their families so that they feel heard and have an opportunity to overcome their feelings of grief. Of course, a lot of people caught up in such events will prove to be resilient and won’t have any significant issues in recovering from the trauma. Sadness and grief will be felt but they will ultimately cope with the help of their social support network.
Routine screening for those who have been impacted by terrorist incidents, whilst very well intentioned, have been shown to be ineffective. Indeed, there are risks with the ‘power of suggestion’ that these people might suffer needless ill effects from being targeted for crisis counselling. They might feel like they should be feeling angry or overcome with grief when in actual fact they will resolve their difficult feelings organically. Crisis counselling should be offered for victims of such incidents, of course it should, but it should be offered for those who really need it and seek it.
Crisis counselling for those who have been impacted by terrorist incidents can help by assisting victims in feeling heard. Counselling can also help them to identify an internal ‘safe place’ when reexperiencing traumatic memories of the incident. It can be helpful to maintain a normal routine when the temptation might be to seek out an avoidance strategy. Engaging in avoidance strategies such as not leaving one’s house might compound the anxiety around the incident. The people who might really need crisis counselling are those who have historical unresolved and unprocessed trauma from their past. This can be when their anxiety is compounded by being triggered by discomforting memories from the past.
I spoke about these issues on Sky News today. See below for the link.
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