Statement of Solidarity with Minnesota Social Workers

The Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers voices strong solidarity with Minnesota NASW and its social workers as they provide support and expertise to the traumatized, grieving families and community of Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis after a mass school shooting Aug. 27. The event killed at least two children and injured 14 students and three faculty.

“Social workers serve as first responders in terms of treating the tremendous trauma, grief, and rage of families, the local community, and even the nation after mass school shootings such as this one,” says Executive Director Debra Riggs. “We offer our deepest sympathies to everyone affected and emphasize that the victims’ families do not bear the negative aftermath of murder and injuries alone. Research confirms the often long-term harm to mental health that such catastrophes wrought within entire communities. We don’t have to look further than Virginia’s own worst school shooting—Virginia Tech in April 2007—to know that repercussions still resonate today. Like Minnesota, Virginia could be doing much more to advance gun violence prevention and protect our children and faculty in schools, places of worship, and elsewhere.”

Read the chapter’s prior statement on gun violence prevention here