How the Davis community can heal after brutal stabbings and arrest of former UCD student

Over roughly seven days, the Davis community went through a roller-coaster ride of emotions as a serial killer stalked and stabbed three victims. With a suspect now in custody, mental health clinicians talked with The Bee about strategies to heal in the wake of traumatic events.

People are going to feel any number of emotions — shock, anxiety, a sense of being overwhelmed, said Dr. Caroline Giroux, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC Davis Health, and these and other sentiments are normal.

Psychologist Dana Rose Garfin at UCLA said those who knew the suspect, Carlos Reales Dominguez, may feel they missed something that could have prevented what happened.

“When something like this happens, particularly with the people who knew the individual or the people who taught the individual, there could be a lot of feelings of guilt,” Garfin said. “How did I not notice the signs? Why didn’t I interfere (or) intervene? ... It’s probably really important for people to remember: It’s not their fault when people make decisions like this. It is of their own accord and their own responsibility.”

Psychologist Paul Kim, director of counseling services at UC Davis, said his team has seen a moderate uptick in requests for counseling — nothing they can’t handle so far — but they have already requested mutual aid from other University of California campuses to help manage a larger surge.

Many people will be able to cope with their feelings by leaning upon their personal social networks — family, friends and coworkers — the three mental health clinicians said, but if you can’t, reach out for professional help.

Residents may have an intense response, even if they didn’t know a suspect or victim personally simply because people’s ability to cope has been taxed by an unprecedented cascade of catastrophes, said Garfin, who co-wrote a paper on the phenomenon published Nature Human Behaviour journal.

People are still trying to recover some sense of normality following three years of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Garfin said, and fresh examples of societal turbulence surface daily: random killings of children, mass shootings, and the like.

And, in her paper, Garfin noted that people also are grappling with devastating weather events. This winter in the Sacramento region, for instance, a torrential deluge and windstorms killed at least 17 people, destroyed homes and flooded cities.

If people are reading, watching or listening to this steady drumbeat of tragedy in the news media and then getting the latest take on all of it from friends and celebrities on social media, that level of exposure can amplify stress levels, Garfin said. There’s a cumulative, compounding trauma exposure, she said, that can make it harder to heal.

“Conflicting information, which is very prevalent on social media; rumors; not having clear communication are particularly distressing for people,” Garfin said. “Whether that happens through talking to people or the news media or social media, it’s really upsetting for people, and it’s hard for them to feel like they’re in control and that they’re safe.”

Garfin, Kim and Giroux offered some practical strategies that the Davis community can use to cope.

Step away from news and social media sites, Giroux said, and try one of these anchoring or grounding techniques to find some inner calm: Take a walk in nature. Pet an animal. Go swimming. Practice deep breathing.

These techniques are comforting, Giroux said, and force people back into the present moment. They’re no longer fearing what could happen or brooding over what has happened, she said.

Giroux, Garfin and Kim also suggested socializing with friends or family. Giroux said she often asks patients, family or friends in distress this question: “What would be the most helpful thing I could do for you at this time?”

People may not want to talk about their feelings or the crime, Giroux and Garfin said, and forcing someone to do so can be harmful.

“People know how they operate, how they cope with things,” she said. “They are the experts on their own life, so it’s important to not assume that ‘Oh, because I personally would want it, everyone would want that.’ We should avoid projecting. ... It’s more about ... being present with the other person.”

Garfin said that people draw comfort from knowing that others care and want to help. Voicing that is helpful, she said.

In the workplace, Giroux said, some people may want to take some personal time off, but others may want to work. They don’t want to be at home with their own thoughts, she said.

“We can be shaken, but we express it differently,” Giroux said. “We have different ways to overcome what really affects us. So the it’s important to be open about supporting various ways to heal and to recharge and after an event.”

It’s also hard to know how long it will take someone to recover, Giroux said: “Some people will bounce back faster than others, and others will take a longer time because stress and trauma have a cumulative effect. ... If it’s not the first trauma someone’s going through, they might feel a bit more fragile this time. So it’s important also to be mindful of that and help them not feel ashamed that it’s taking them a certain amount of time to heal.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, younger individuals are experiencing higher rates of distress and they’re experiencing at much higher rates than older individuals, Garfin said, and researchers think this is because they came of age during this really difficult time in society.

Kim said the counseling service is encouraging UCD students to seek care. They can receive free and confidential short-term counseling, he said, and crisis intervention referrals.

Students can also seek crisis consultation services if they’re concerned about a peer, Kim said, and they can get guidance on meditation and other mindfulness techniques through a website called Therapy Assistance Online.

Want to know everything the counseling service offers? Check out the Aggie mental health website, a one-stop shop for all UCD mental health-related resources. Counseling sessions can be in-person or virtual and group or individual, depending on the need, Kim said.

“I want students to know that they’re not alone,” Kim said. “There’s a lot of resources available to them.

Wondering whether you need professional help. Garfin said people should consider it if they can answer yes to one or more of these questions, Garfin said. Are you having trouble completing work or school assignments? Are you continuing to struggle with ongoing anxiety or stress after others seem to be recovered? Are your emotions getting in the way of maintaining healthy, satisfying interpersonal relationships? Have you lost pleasure in activities you used to love? Are you having trouble sleeping?