Around 30% of mass shootings between 1966 and 2021 happened in the workplace, according to the Violence Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center funded by the National Institute of Justice.

Jennifer Godby, a licensed clinical social worker and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Kentucky, says workplace violence not only causes long lasting physical and psychological problems for those who experience it, but for their families, coworkers and the community as well.

But, she adds, there are ways to heal after the violence.

Sometimes it is so overwhelming that we feel like giving up.

Some people are left feeling isolated, scared, alone, seeking help.

Other people have noticed that this is really a time where we have to pull together as a community.

And they've done that in church groups and in neighborhoods and schools in particular.

I think that we have a lot of potential here in Kentucky to help each other out.

And when we do that, it's really beautiful.

No matter what your views are or your values, you can it will improve your mental health to let your voice be heard, to be able to find a forum for that that's safe and appropriate and be able to speak up about when you see something wrong going on or atrocity, whether that's being active in advocating for your legislature, for how you feel about what's going on, both in the city council or the community group or the state level.

There's lots of levels, and those people do deserve to hear from us about how we feel.

So I do think that's another way that people can heal, is that they can speak up for what they believe in and what they think is important.

I would highly encourage people right to access mental health services that are available in this community to connect with the groups and communities that are already available.

And if one's not available, create your own group.

What we do know is that what helps us to stay alive and mentally healthy is to be able to find those things in your life where you can make a difference.

Those ways that you can impact the things that you care about, the people that you care about, and that you can see that every day when we're able to deal with that anxiety and that despair and that sense of existential dread, only when we see that there is hope.

So we have to keep finding ways to connect to the hope that is there.

And I believe it's out there.

As you heard her say, Godby encourages people to connect with a community support group or create your own.

If one is not already available.