Hours after she escaped the Columbine High School shooting, 14-year-old Missy Mendo slept between her parents in bed, still wearing the shoes she had on when she fled her math class. She wanted to be ready to run. Twenty-five years later, and with Mendo now a mother herself, the trauma…
One of the most infamous school shootings in U.S. history, Columbine left a deep wound in the country's psyche, and traumatized the survivors for decades.
A quarter of a century after the Columbine High School shooting, the trauma from the attack has remained with survivors. Some have taken years to identify themselves as survivors since they were not physically wounded. The aftershocks — often unacknowledged in the years before mental health struggles were more widely recognized — led to some survivors suffering insomnia, dropping out of school, or disengaging from their spouses or families. But some have developed healthy ways to cope with the shadow of that horrific day through therapy and the support from an expanding group of fellow mass shooting survivors.
One of the most infamous school shootings in U.S. history, Columbine left a deep wound in the country's psyche, and traumatized the survivors for decades.
One of the most infamous school shootings in U.S. history, Columbine left a deep wound in the country's psyche, and traumatized the survivors for decades.