After Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas grapples with how to heal together
For a week after the shooting, Christopher Mendoza thought he was fine.
A wellness counselor for HIV-positive individuals at a Las Vegas nonprofit, Mr. Mendoza focused on his clients’ needs in the days following the Oct. 1 tragedy, when Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd attending a concert outside Mandalay Bay. “Everyone that walked through my door client-wise needed to talk and just unload,” Mendoza says. “I tried just giving them positive thoughts: ‘It’s OK to leave your house. You're safe. This is your home. Do not be afraid.’
“I don’t think I believed it myself.”
That became clear the Saturday after the shooting, when Mendoza found himself yelling at a stranger at a local bar. The man had made some flippant comment about the event, he recalls. “I kind of blew up on him,” says Mendoza, who left the bar in tears. “I guess
Coming together after tragedyCreating a 'trauma-informed community'Opportunity for changeYou’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
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