5 years after mass shooting, VB Strong Center closes its doors

The VB Strong Center, put in place to respond to the needs of those affected by the 2019 mass shooting in Virginia Beach, is set to end its services by Sept. 30.

The center was funded through an initial $3.5 million grant from the Department of Justice and was initially slated to run for 27 months, from October 2019 to January 2022, but was extended. It offered free case-management services to connect people with counseling services in the community as well as programs at the center itself, in Landstown Commons, at no cost to the individual but did not directly provide any counseling services, according Glinda O'Neill, manager of Sentara's outpatient behavioral health services who ran the VB Strong Center since its inception.

"We could provide the therapeutic yoga, art therapy, music therapy, animal therapy," O'Neill said in an interview. "We could not provide direct psychotherapy, though our technicians are licensed, but because of the parameters of the grant we acted as navigators to be able to identify the resources in the community and connect that client with those resources."

The psychoeducational programs were designed to promote "healing and resiliency" for those impacted, said Tracey Izzard-Everett, vice president of Behavioral Health Services for Sentara.

The justice department determined that Sept. 30 would be a "good stopping point," for the center, O'Neill said.

Twelve people died and four were injured in the shooting in Building 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center on May 31, 2019. O'Neill said the center had some contact with all 16 families who either lost someone or had someone injured in the shooting and did direct case management for eight of those. Overall, they served more than 300 people, including more than 60 first responders and 911 operators, according to O'Neill.

"When you think about the tragedy and the trauma and how that unfolds, when you're looking at meeting at least 50% of the folks directly impacted I think that's a great number," O'Neill said.

The first responders were hesitant to come forward initially, O'Neill said, so the center put together a program that kept them anonymous by allowing them to go to counseling through a provider of their choice and the provider would send an invoice to the center.

The Virginia Beach fire and police departments did not have their own data on how many first responders used the center. A spokesperson for the police department declined to share any stories of anonymous individuals who benefited from the program, citing privacy concerns.

The Pilot reported that the center started with 11 staff members, and now has five, including O'Neill, O'Neill said. Usage of their services was highest at the beginning and lagged during COVID, but the implementation of telehealth services brought clients back in. The current staff of the center will have the option to apply for other jobs within Sentara.

The center began informing its clients that its services would be ending this month starting in April and has since shared resources on how to continue to have their needs met and has communicated with other service providers in the community to prepare for the center's closure.

"We wanted to make sure that when we're at (Sept. 30) that we're not leaving anybody without resources," O'Neill said. "We've worked very hard to have this be a seamless change for these people because they've already gone through some very difficult situations."

In a statement, the city thanked Sentara for their work on the center.

"The city remains committed to supporting those affected by the Municipal Center mass tragedy on May 31, 2019, in their journeys to healing and resiliency, and we will continue to offer a variety of mental health programs for employees moving forward," a spokesperson said in an email.

The spokesperson provided a list of some of the services available to those impacted by the shooting in the center's absence: