State will cover counseling costs for shooting witnesses
CLACKAMAS, Ore. – Witnessing something as horrific as this week’s shooting at Clackamas Town Center is a traumatic experience. With that in mine, the Oregon Attorney General’s office is pushing through an emergency plan to offer counseling for witnesses of Tuesday’s shooting.
“It’s hard to imagine the trauma and terror of witnessing a masked gunman indiscriminately firing an automatic weapon through a mall full of holiday shoppers,” Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said. “Our Crime Victims Services Division is well positioned to get people the help they may need.”
The Crime Victim Services Division has set up a program to pay for at least ten counseling sessions for people who witnessed the shooting.
People who were at the scene can fill out a form found on the state’s website.
The Crime Victim Services Division has been around since 1978 with the goal of reducing the impact of crime on victims’ lives. They pay for counseling related to violent crime and also provide up to $5,000 in funeral costs for homicide victims.
Each year they receive about 6,000 applications for help, according to an attorney general’s office spokesman.
The division is funded from federal grants and from restitution and fines paid by criminals.
People who fill out the assistance form will be contacted by the state. State compensation will generally cover the cost of counseling not paid for by insurance or employers.
a nanny to see a shooting. come on state, stop wasting our taxpayer money.Â
The state should cover medical expenses as well.
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I abhor a system where an innocent person in a mall racks up 10s of thousands of dollars simply for being in the right place at the wrong time. (or is it the wrong place at the right time? or the wrong place at the wrong time?)
Seriously? People are going to whine about a pittance of tax money going towards grief counseling? That and conspiracy theories about being labeled for life and never getting a job? Get a grip.
@Max Quinn Plus if they actually read the article they would see that the program is only partially funded by tax dollars.
Here's your nanny state using your tax dollars wisely
 @archon312 I would reach through my monitor and smack you down if I could.
So the next time someone witnesses something bad and the state does not "pay" for the counceling - and they sue - are we going to be surprised? The great expansion of the nanny state would be more apt.
The counselers get paid $150 an hour....They should do it for free. Â The state shouldnt pay for this.
Be advised that if you take the state up on their offer.....YOU WILL BE LABELED SERIOUSLY MENTALLY ILL FOR LIFE in your electronic medical records, forever closing thousands of jobs & opportunities BY LAW....YOU'RE CRAZY NOW!
 @August100 Lie, people see counselors all the time, it's not on your record or accessible, and if someone does gain that information it's an instant law suite. No employer in their right mind would do this, and if some how they did I would not want to work for them.
Uhhhh it wasn't an automatic weapon.
 @Doc Holliday This is what you felt the need to comment on? It was a semi-automatic.Â