Jenn Shiffman

Mass shootings (shootings with 4 or more victims) have become a common occurrence in the United States, and the state of Illinois is no exception: Illinoisans experienced 36 mass shootings in 2024, 26 of them in Chicago, according to the National Gun Archive. The vast majority occur in neighborhoods with continuous violence and few mental health resources. The Illinois Division of Mental Health (DMH) envisions a future where no matter where a shooting occurs, there is a coordinated and consistent mental health response that extends beyond the immediate aftermath of a shooting because we know that healing from trauma doesn’t happen on a timetable. As a result, DMH decided to use funds from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) to create a Mental Health Response to Mass Firearm Violence Plan, and enlisted our design and research team to help facilitate and create it. In this case study, we discuss the experience of bringing together state government grantmakers, community leaders and survivors of gun violence to understand each others’ needs and capabilities and build a government-sponsored program to respond to mental health needs in the aftermath of mass shootings. In a world where urgency often overshadows understanding, meaningful collaboration demands more than just connection; it requires deep understanding and shared purpose. However, each person involved brings their own knowledge and context to the collaborative process, often assuming that others speak this same language. We dive deep into our role of researchers as language processors, working to ensure that we understand the various “languages” spoken so we can orchestrate shared understanding and bring under-appreciated intelligences to the forefront to drive toward solutions that resonate with all involved. Thanks to this skill set, our team created a blueprint for a new role, the Mental Health Response Lead, and the services that individuals would be responsible for delivering. The blueprint created the foundation for a new grant funding opportunity for this role that launched in February 2025, bringing over $2,000,000 in resources to communities hardest-hit by mass firearm violence.