KYC State­ment on the High­land Park Shooting

July 05, 2022

It is with heavy hearts that KYC grieves with the com­mu­ni­ty of High­land Park and all who are impact­ed by yes­ter­day’s trag­ic events. We know that mul­ti­ple mem­bers of our staff, vol­un­teers, clients, and com­mu­ni­ty part­ners were direct­ly impact­ed, and count­less folks are work­ing to deal with the news. No fam­i­ly should have to fear for the safe­ty of their child, sib­ling, par­ent, neigh­bor, or friend as they strive to learn, edu­cate, work, shop, or cel­e­brate in what should be the safe­ty of their local communities.

Every­one deserves to live safely.

KYC is com­mit­ted to help­ing our neigh­bors through­out the north­west sub­urbs find the resources they need to sup­port their well­be­ing. As we are all pro­cess­ing the news dif­fer­ent­ly, please take time to rec­og­nize how you’re feel­ing and to give your­self space to con­nect with the sup­port that you need at this time. Below, you’ll find infor­ma­tion and pro­grams that may be help­ful as you kind­ly care for your­selves and loved ones.

• This arti­cle from the Child Mind Insti­tute about how to talk to chil­dren about fright­en­ing news in Eng­lish (https://​child​mind​.org/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​/​h​e​l​p​i​n​g​-​c​h​i​l​d​r​e​n​-​c​o​p​e​-​f​r​i​g​h​t​e​n​i​n​g​-​news/) and Span­ish (https://​child​mind​.org/​e​s​/​a​r​t​i​c​u​l​o​/​a​y​u​d​a​n​d​o​-​l​o​s​-​n​i​n​o​s​-​a​f​r​o​n​t​a​r​-​n​o​t​i​c​i​a​s​-​a​t​e​r​r​a​d​oras/)
• This page from the Illi­nois Depart­ment of Human Ser­vices on deal­ing with trau­mat­ic events: https://​www​.dhs​.state​.il​.us/​p​a​g​e​.​a​s​p​x​?​i​t​e​m​=​36398
• Any­one in the state of Illi­nois can call the Illi­nois Divi­sion of Men­tal Health Warm Line at 1−866−359−7953 (Mon­day — Sat­ur­day, 8am-8pm) for emo­tion­al support
• Any­one in the state of Illi­nois can text TALK to 552020 for Eng­lish or HABLAR for Span­ish to con­nect with a Call4Calm coun­selor in your area who can con­nect you with local men­tal health resources
• Find Sub­stance Abuse and Men­tal Health Ser­vices Admin­is­tra­tion (SAMH­SA) state-licensed providers who spe­cial­ize in treat­ing sub­stance use dis­or­ders, addic­tion, and men­tal ill­ness at https://​find​treat​ment​.gov/
• Find free and con­fi­den­tial sup­port for indi­vid­u­als in cri­sis avail­able 24 hours a day 7 days a week by tex­ting HOME to 741741
• Con­tact the Nation­al Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion Life­line at 1−800−273−8255 or vis­it https://​sui​cide​pre​ven​tion​life​line​.org/ for more information
• If you or some­one you know are in imme­di­ate dan­ger of harm­ing them­selves or oth­ers, call 9−1−1 immediately

If you’re look­ing for sup­port but aren’t sure where to start, our team can help con­nect you with local resources at 847−524−8800.

Please check in with your friends, fam­i­lies, loved ones, and neigh­bors. Sup­port one anoth­er, and grant each oth­er the grace to process this immense trau­ma. It’s OK not to be OK. Please help one anoth­er find what we need to cope in healthy ways.

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