SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – It has been one year since the worse mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The massacre at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas left 58 people dead and hundreds more injured.
Dr. Shiva Ghaed is a survivor. She is now sharing her journey of recovery in a book, “Route 91: Healing from Mass Violence and Trauma.”
On Friday, she sat down with News 8 to reflect one year since that devastating day in Las Vegas. For Dr. Ghaed, The Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Festival in October 2017 began like all other festivals. There were performances by top artists, dancing, food trucks and vendors.
For her, it was a weekend with friends, but everything changed in the final hour, when an evening of socializing and bonding with old and new friends became a desperate fight to survive.
Dr. Ghaed said she was compelled to write a book so that a broader audience can learn more, not only about survivors’ journeys of healing over the past year, but also about their own. “It’s been a rough recovery for a lot of people. The perspective of being a clinical psychologist and specialized in trauma, I understand how isolating trauma is.”
For Dr. Ghaed, the book is her way of bringing knowledge about the most common psychiatric problems – anxiety, depression, and trauma – to the general public.
Just seven days after the shooting last year, Dr. Ghaed hosted a free group counseling session in Mission Valley for those affected by the tragedy. She even details the process of her own recovery in her book.
“Lead by example and be very transparent in my own recovery process. Let them know, hey, I am getting triggered too.’ I had some nightmares, too. I have been feeling a little detached, too, but here is the way that we fix this. Here is how we get better,” she said.
Dr. Ghaed hopes her project will lead to healing and continue and open dialogue on a dark chapter in American history.
Download a free copy of Dr. Ghaed’s book, “Route 91: Healing from Mass Violence and Trauma.”