Local Woman With Manchester Roots Seeks To Help Kids Traumatized By World Events

CUTCHOGUE, NY — A deadly bombing at the Manchester Arena, leaving 22 dead and 59 injured, has rocked the world — and for one local woman, the tragedy touches a very deep chord.

Joanna Lane, of Cutchogue, said the Monday's nightmare outside an Ariana Grande concert hits "close to home."

Harrogate Grammar School, where as many as seven students are believed to have been at the concert, is Lane's former school — she attended from the ages of 11 to 14 — and is located in the area where her brother and his family still lives.

"My thoughts and prayers with all those affected, but these kids, especially, have my heart," she said.

While Lane says she's "not a Mancunian," she's from West Yorkshire, "but bordering Greater Manchester and close in distance and culture. My dad used to drive us as young children over the Pennines to go ice skating at the Manchester Ice Rink, about an hour and a half away. The excitement of such a treat, the journey there, the fun of arriving, being there, then falling asleep in the car on the way home, happy tired, way past bedtime. All gone for those families in a senseless act."

The impact of the tragedy on children near and far are one focus and mission of Lane's work through Virtual Operations Support Group, a global organization in social media for emergency management. She founded the organization with others.

"It's one of my passions and we have teams of digital first responders working remotely to support authorities in emergency and disaster situations all over the world. When it's 'closer to home', geographically or psychologically, the empathy is much greater — and I have not forgotten the feelings of excitement to climb into the car and drive to Manchester for some fun," Lane said.

Helping traumatized children

Now, she said, many children worldwide will be traumatized either because they were there, or if they have seen images flashed across the television screen or social media.

"Vicarious trauma," she said, is a real concern, with scientific evidence to prove its existence. "You don't have to be physically there to be affected by it, it can affect anyone exposed to it, especially images."

As president of VOSG, Lane has a global advisory council that includes professional emergency managers from Spain, France, Panama, Australia, Canada, and New York.

While there is no VOST in Manchester, the regional center @VOST Europe, which has about 20 teams throughout Europe, was active through the night this week; the group also has a Facebook page.

Of VSOG, Lane said, "It is now so much greater than me, with amazing people involved throughout the world. I feel so much pain for everyone impacted by the Manchester attack, as I do for all survivors for disasters worldwide, whether caused by mother nature or terrorism, the impact felt is the same. I believe that either you're a disaster humanitarian or you're not. We do what we can, where we can, and where we can."

She added that geography is not an impediment in today's world.

"Through social media, we work remotely and have amazing support from other digital humanitarians worldwide with professional training to be able to change the outcome in disaster for those impacted on the ground. Sometimes it hits us personally and we need to learn to deal with that part, too," Lane said.

Resources to utilize

Following are resources for children — and adults — impacted by world trauma, Lane said.

A number of years ago, she and others set out to write policy involving children in social media, in regard to emergency management.

Carol Dunn, an expert in the field, included the science behind vicarious trauma, Lane said.

Dunn, Lane said, put together the following collection of research of work and articles to help teens cope with the stress of a terrifying world. Click the links to find the resources.

• The teenage brain processes fear learning differently than adults. Teens are unable to extinguish fears, and trauma experienced as a teenager has a greater chance of causing long term changes in behavior, according to Cornell, Dunn wrote.

• Studies also show that when children are immersed in information about a traumatic event, they risk experiencing PTSD symptoms even when they aren’t directly affected by the event, according to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

• Professional advice is for caregivers to limit children and teen’s exposure to traumatic situations, according to the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma.

• Wired posted an article about the evidence of people who moderate images experiencing long term effects, Dunn said.

• Some adolescents have a strong negative response to negative imagery, which is linked to an increase risk of PTSD, according to the University of Washington, Dunn said.

• Greater exposure to post disaster information and imagery increases children and young people's risk of PTSD, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. And, Dunn said, previous exposure to traumatic situations has been found to increase risk of long term brain changes, so even if individuals don’t respond negatively in the short term, the situations they are exposed to today can play a role in later trauma, according to NCBI.

For those struggling, there is help. Following is a list of resources, according to Lane:

Emotional Recovery

• Free 24/7 counseling or support, contact #RedCross Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs’ to 66746 or go to theRed Cross website.
• Taking Care of Your Emotional Health After a Disaster
• Cómo ayudar a los niños a confrontar una catástrofe
• Helping Children Cope Following a Disaster
• Cuidado de la salud emocional tras una catástrofe

And, she said, disaster education for children is available at the info4disasters website.

Patch courtesy photo.