Las Vegas Healing Collaborative
A Partnership for Building Resilience
Since 2020, we’ve partnered with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Medicine to bring trauma-healing and resilience-building tools to the greater Las Vegas Community, impacted by economic decline, mass shootings, and public health crises.
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been particularly acute in Las Vegas, a tourism-dependent economy. The resulting historically-high unemployment rates have exacerbated Las Vegas’s ongoing public health crisis rooted in substance use, domestic violence, and lack of mental health resources. Unresolved trauma from the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in 2017 and youth suicides have resulted in increased isolation, fear, and uncertainty in the community.
Anne Weisman, PhD, Director of Wellness & Integrative Medicine at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and UNLV President Keith Whitfield invited CMBM to begin an initiative in Las Vegas after the October 1, 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival Shooting to create a comprehensive approach to addressing and treating community trauma and fostering wellness. After years of grassroots programming, CMBM partnered with UNLV in 2021 to launch a city-wide program for participants from UNLV’s Schools of Medicine, Public Health, Social Work and Couple & Family Counseling, the Metropolitan Police Department, local fire departments, among others.
Today, we continue to bring CMBM’s transformational model to the greater Las Vegas community. Mind-body medicine techniques have been integrated into social service programs and university programs throughout the city.
Since we first began our work in Las Vegas in 2017, we’ve seen an escalation in mass shootings in the United States, making absolutely critical the development of a comprehensive healing model that is easily integrated into schools and community support systems. The Las Vegas Healing Collaborative is setting a benchmark for community crisis response, resiliency-building, and wellness.
Impact
Testimonials from the Las Vegas Healing Collaborative demonstrate our model’s ability to provide relief, increase hopefulness, and improve community connections between the thousands of community leaders who have participated.