OVC FY24 AEAP Club Q

Shortly before midnight on November 19, 2022, there were 51 individuals—including staff—inside Club Q when a shooter entered the parking lot of the club wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying an AR-15-style rifle. The shooter reportedly began indiscriminately firing at patrons and staff. Three heroic individuals at the club were able to subdue and restrain the alleged shooter until police arrived. The first 911 call went out around 11:57 p.m. and the suspect was taken into custody by Colorado Springs Police Department officers at 12:02 a.m. and transported to a hospital for treatment. As a result of the gunman’s actions, five individuals lost their lives and an additional 32 individuals were injured during the incident. Nearly 60 people were in the immediate vicinity of the shooting (including the 51 individuals at the club) and 226 first responders supported this incident.

This award will provide counseling and other mental health-related services to victims and their families and other support for victims through the Colorado Springs Resiliency Center and the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI). Such support may include evidence-based trauma-related behavioral health services; evidence-based individual and group outpatient services such as cognitive behavior therapy; wraparound support including care coordination, case management, psychiatric medication, crisis response, etc.; community-based programming including connection to resources that address barriers to care and wellness coaching; access to telehealth services; culturally responsive peer specialists providing rapid access to individual and group outpatient services; and training facilitators to offer group sessions in multiple locations.