Brown University Shooting: Why Early Trauma Care Is Essential

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Early trauma care can benefit people who experience violence as well as those who witness it secondhand. Photo: Canva

In the aftermath of Saturdays shooting on the campus of Brown University, words like courage, strength, and resilience have understandably dominated public statements. They reflect care and solidarity. But decades of experience in mental health tell us something more complicated — and more urgent: trauma rarely announces itself immediately, and it rarely confines itself to the people most visibly affected.

In Providence, Brown is not an island. It is woven into the life of the city. The effects of violence on its campus extend beyond students and faculty to custodial staff, campus and city police, emergency responders, nearby residents, families watching anxiously from afar, and community members whose sense of safety was suddenly shaken. Trauma does not respect institutional boundaries.

How institutions respond in the days and weeks after such events can shape mental-health outcomes for months or years to come. Public emphasis on resilience can be comforting, but it can also obscure how trauma actually works. Many people function well in the immediate aftermath of crisis. Adrenaline carries them through. They return to class or work, reassure loved ones that they’re fine, and appear outwardly stable.

We are seeing that dynamic now in interviews with Brown students on television — particularly those who witnessed the shootings — who, even as they reassure viewers that they are okay, appear visibly shaken and speak about not knowing how long it will take to get past what they experienced. Trauma often unfolds quietly, over time.

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter devoted her life to advancing mental health, and one issue she cared about deeply was trauma — especially the failure to address it early. I worked with her as an advisor on mental health for more than two decades through the Carter Centers Mental Health Journalism Fellowship Program. She often said that after a disaster, mental-health professionals need to be at the table, not brought in later.

That lesson was reinforced after 9/11, when then–Surgeon General David Satcher discussed what was an evolving understanding of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder on a public radio special, State of Mind, that I produced. He explained that PTSD often emerges after a delay and made a then-novel observation: trauma can affect not only those who directly experience violence, but also those who witness it secondhand, including through repeated exposure on television. Trauma spreads farther — and lasts longer — than we often assume.

This is why early intervention matters. Trauma-informed care is most effective when initiated early through screening, education, and access to professional clinical support. Waiting until people are visibly struggling often means treatment is harder, recovery is slower, and suffering is prolonged.

Resilience is real. Courage is real. But so is trauma. Addressing it early, broadly, and without stigma is not a sign of fragility. It is a sign of collective responsibility — and care for a community larger than the one visible in the immediate aftermath.