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ONE Lexington working to help kids deal with trauma related to gun violence

One Mission to Reduce Gun Violence
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — On Tuesday morning, about 50 kids arrived at UK's Cornerstone Building to begin work on dealing with trauma related to gun violence, something that, not even a month into summer break, is impacting Lexington's youth.

For ONE Lexington Director Devine Carama, half of that battle was won before he even addressed the kids at 9 a.m.

"Not even a month into summer, for these kids to wake up, a lot of them (at) 7:30, 8:00 a.m. to be here means they're getting something that they need," Carama said.

The program teaches kids how to deal with trauma properly, so staff walk them through things like conflict resolution, coping mechanisms, and navigating their emotions, all aimed at preventing future gun violence.

“When you look at the perpetrator, or the person shot, you look at their history, they were directly infected by gun violence previously, but that trauma was probably untreated,” he said. “We talk about conflict resolution, mindfulness, how to regulate and navigate emotions, all of that is the real work of preventing gun violence in the future,” Carama explained.

Since One Lexington was formed, and Mayor Linda Gorton appointed Carama as its leader, Lexington’s gun violence numbers have dropped. Carama showed us a four-year average of Lexington shootings for people ages 10-29 dropping from 31 at this time in 2021 to 12 this year. Carama admits that he isn’t sure if One Lexington is the reason for the drop since its inception.

“Man, that’s a tough question,” he said, when asked if there might be a correlation. “I think the value that One Lexington has brought to the city is the synergy piece that has us all coordinated. Because it really is all of us, and I don’t say that just to be fake humble. It’s public safety, it’s the school system, it’s the court system and it’s our non-profits,” he explained.

And it’s getting kids like these victims together because they want to be here and want to be helped.

“They want to be around people who love and care about them, they want the structure, they want to be better young men and women, and they could easily tell mom, ‘I don’t want to go today’ so clearly they’re getting something out of this and that informs us how to move forward with this program,” he said.

Carama said his waitlist for this camp is about double the amount he could accept, so plans are in the works to expand it going forward. For now, he’ll do his best to challenge this group.

“Where are the leaders at? Are all of you brave enough to do the right thing even if it's not the popular thing?” he asked the kids before sending them off to their first session.