As students prepare to return to classes at Columbine High School on Monday, parents and children can expect a roller-coaster ride of emotion and grief. In a seminar on coping with grief on Wednesday, author and lecturer Mary Schoenfeldt told members of the Columbine community that the process is a long, difficult journey without a definite end. Your experience with Columbine will live with you forever. It will never completely go away,'' she said.
Recovery is unpredictable.
A crowd of about 75 parents, students and community members gathered to hear Schoenfeldt speak at the Ascot Center, about a mile west of the school. Schoenfeldt warned parents and students to be vigilant in watching for signs of difficulty in dealing with grief during the coming weeks and months. Emotional scars left by the April shootings will manifest themselves through depression, children acting out, and an increase in drug abuse and even suicides as many survivors feel guilt and pain over the loss of friends, she said. Signs of grief are still evident in students as the school year starts, said Columbine senior class president Michael Sheehan. It's difficult for all of us.