STATE Post-Pulse center seeks funds

grant through the U.S. Department of Justice Victims of Crime Act covered most of the cost.

Three years later, the center continues to see people who are seeking help for the first time.

“Even in the last couple of months, we’ve had some folks come in that have never sought services before,” said Ray Larsen, a Heart of Florida United Way vice president. “The research indicates there’s a flow to this, where there might be a period of time where you see less folks, and then it starts to track up again, depending on what else is going [in the country]. So it’s not as easy as just saying, ‘This is what happened last year, and we anticipate the same next year.’”

Last year, some 200 people came seeking a range of help from counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder to job training to legal referrals.

But unlike the aftermath of other mass shootings, Hayward said, one of the biggest demands has been for financial aid. Because many of those injured or traumatized by the attack were young and worked jobs without health benefits, they have struggled to cover basic needs.

“You had a community that was already marginalized, already had a lack of services … and then this happened,” Hayward said. “But we’re realizing that we can’t continue that ongoing aid. We just don’t have the cash, nor is there a funding source for us to pursue to continue that aid long term.”

Robin Maynard-Harris, a cofounder of the One Orlando Alliance, also created after the shooting, said the center will need to evolve to address those needs.

“We need to help folks thrive now. We need to help them get back to work while feeling supported,” she said.

Candice Crawford, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association of Central Florida, said she hopes the center also will continue to offer counseling services for people struggling with the aftermath of trauma.

“The need will never go away,” Crawford said. “There could be people whose PTSD has yet to surface. It could be next week, next month, next year. And when that happens, there’s the chance they could lose their job and their health insurance. They need someone to be there for them.”

The mental health association, which also offers counseling to survivors, still has about 30 Pulse clients it’s helping, and it too has struggled to find funding for the service.

Hayward said his agency may apply for other federal grants to cover the center going forward.

“But we don’t know yet,” he said. “Because we don’t know what the next iteration of the [center] looks like yet.”