This week, two separate shootings on school property took place in Oakland, placing campuses on temporary lockdown.

On Friday, Laney College athletic director and longtime football coach John Beam died after being shot on campus Thursday, Oakland police said.

Just days earlier, a young person was shot at Skyline High School, and two minors were taken into custody.

“We must continue confronting the ongoing gun violence crisis that is robbing our community of safety and stealing futures,” said Oakland mayor Barbara Lee on Thursday. “This is a moment for our community to come together and address this violence with urgency.”

As firearms remain a stronghold in American culture and politics, gun violence continues to be an epidemic that makes the United States an outlier compared to other countries when it comes to the number of people injured and killed by others with guns. And while California’s rate of firearm-related mortality is lower than the United States as a whole, with some steps of varying success towards curbing access, gun violence continues to impact the state — and the people of the Bay Area.

As of November 2025, at least 950 people in California have been killed this year by gun violence — which includes murder, accidental incidents and suicide — according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. While tragedy has struck communities of varying backgrounds, gun violence disproportionately affects communities of color, particularly Black and Latino people.

An August 2023 report by the California Department of Justice found that “gun homicide caused 38% of deaths among Black teenage males over [2020-2021], compared to 4% of deaths among white teenage males.” From 2019 to 2021, California authorities also found that there was a 2% increase in the number of domestic violence calls, with an 80% increase in firearms being used or threatened.

Gun violence, whether it kills or not, can also ripple outward and bring trauma to many others around it — whether that’s the people who survive being shot, the loved ones of those who’ve died or folks who witness a shooting or are in the surrounding area when it happens. And surviving gun violence like this is “a lifelong journey,” said Keenon James, the director of Everytown Survivor Network, a survivors’ group that advocates for gun violence prevention.

“It’s not as if it’s something that you get over in a year or some period of time,” said James, who was a child when his own brother was shot and killed in Takoma Park, Maryland, 30 years ago. “The timetable is unknown, and it varies for everyone.”

So, if you’ve been impacted by gun violence yourself, where can you find support around the Bay Area? Keep reading for a list of resources that can offer assistance to survivors.

Jump straight to:

• Which centers and hotlines offer support to gun violence survivors?
• How can survivors apply for potential compensation?

Where can you find support after gun violence

Go at your own pace …

First of all, don’t discount your need for support just because the gun violence in question wasn’t recent. Everytown Survivor Network’s James emphasizes that trauma “may manifest later on” and can be stirred up by “something that occurs later in life that makes you think back to that instance.”

“Going through that type of experience definitely changes your life,” he said, and you should seek the kind of support that feels best for you and your circumstances.

… and be open to different sources of potential healing

Meaningful support after experiencing gun violence might not always take the form you — or others in your life — might expect.

Derrick Benson, a resource coordinator at Oakland-based advocacy organization Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP), told KQED after the Juneteenth tragedy that healing can look like many different things. For example, APTP pointed to organizations that provided acupuncture or herbal foot soaks — both of which were offered at their Healing Portal event directly after the shooting.

James said some people may also find respite in advocacy work, as “most gun violence survivors are focused on making their community safer.”

“Advocacy allows us to make sure someone’s loved one continues to have a voice, that they’re remembered, and they’re not forgotten, ” he said.

Reach out to local support centers

The following is a non-exhaustive list of locations and hotlines around the Bay Area offering mental health support to people who have survived gun violence.

Remember that costs and types of services offered can sometimes change, so be sure to clarify with these resources directly to ensure you’re getting what you need (and what you expect).

• California’s Trauma Recovery Centers (free)
• Everytown Survivor Network (free)
• People’s Program (free)
• MH First Oakland (free)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 (free)
• National Institute of Mental Health: 866-615-6464 (free)
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 (free)
• Family Justice Center (free)
• The Women’s Building (free or low-cost)
• Steve Fund: STEVE to 741741 (For young people of color)
• Bay Area Trauma Center (standard fee ranges from $150–$300 for a 50-minute session, or whatever your insurance plan is. If you are a victim of a crime, it could possibly be free through the state — more on this below)
• Bay Area Trauma Recovery Clinical Services (dependent on income for individual therapy, but ranges from $30–$150. Group therapy is $160; does not take insurance)

You can also consult CalVCB’s or 211’s database, which includes county-specific assistance, support and counseling. The database lists resources across the Bay Area. Your county or city may also have a violence prevention program, which often includes contacts to knowledgeable and funded organizations.

In 2020, KQED published a guide to finding culturally competent therapy in the Bay Area that addressed the needs this kind of inequity creates.

Seek support from your health care provider (if you’re comfortable doing so)

Not everyone feels comfortable asking for support within the medical profession, Benson said.

He noted that for many communities, especially Black and brown folks, going to the hospital or doctor’s can be “kind of iffy” due to the ongoing impacts of the history of bias and racism in medicine in the United States.

If you do decide to go to your primary care doctor, NPR has a guide on advocating for yourself during the appointment, which includes advice like coming prepared with a list of priorities you want to discuss and be ready to leave a doctor who does not appear to be listening to you.

California also has a state office dedicated to patient advocacy, where you can find county-specific resources and assistance.

For those who don’t feel comfortable seeking support from their health care provider, community organizations — like APTP’s pop-up healing portals — can alternatively help guide families to the resources they need for healing, Benson said.

How does compensation for gun violence survivors work?

Each state has its own Crime Victim Compensation Program, which is a board that may be able to provide financial support for victims of various crimes, including gun violence and their families. In California, that program is called the California Victim Compensation Board, or CalVCB. Your county may also have its own Victim Witness Assistance Center, which could offer support to survivors of violence.

Everytown Survivor Network’s James urged people to turn to the funding that could be available to them, like state funding or supportive organizations. “There are many opportunities available, and I encourage people to take advantage of that opportunity to look into them,” he said — recommending that you “see what’s available, what might suit you and what might be accessible to you based on your health care needs, what your health coverage and benefits may be.”

In the CalVCB’s 2022–23 fiscal year, the program received 39,000 applications and provided $49.7 million in compensation, with assault claims accounting for the largest share of the assistance provided. These funds cover services like burials (2023’s largest expense), income loss and relocation.

The application and instructions for applying for compensation can be found on CalVCB’s website. There is also a Good Samaritan Compensation application for those who attempted to help in a crisis and suffered personal injury, property damage or even death as a result..

You must apply for compensation within seven years of the crime, although it’s possible to file for a consideration. Applications take around 90 days to process.

Who is eligible for compensation as a gun violence survivor?

You must be a California resident at the time of the crime. You could also be someone who was victimized in California but not a resident of California. You do not need to be a U.S. citizen to be eligible.

CalVCB also said that people who “do not cooperate with police and the court in the investigation, arrest and trial of the person who committed the crime” may not be eligible — although exceptions could be considered in cases like domestic violence, sexual assault or child abuse.

What kind of crime can CalVCB compensate for?

The crime must involve physical injury, emotional injury due to the threat of physical injury or death. There may be some cases where emotional injury alone may apply, like child abandonment, and may also include witnesses to crimes or family members.

Examples of the types of crime covered include assault, hate crimes, human trafficking, online harassment, robbery and driving under the influence.

Those who are not eligible for compensation include people who committed the crime or were involved in the events leading up to the crime. It also includes those who committed a felony at the time of the crime, but the website does state that “exceptions may be considered.”

What exactly can be covered by this kind of compensation?

CalVCB has a detailed spreadsheet (link to PDF) dedicated to the types of situations it has reimbursed before, which includes:

• Medical and dental treatment
• Mental health treatment
• Funeral and burial
• Home security installation
• Relocation (for example, moving to a new neighborhood)
• Crime scene clean-up

There are limitations on funds awarded. Dollar amount-wise, the most a person can be eligible for is up to $70,000, and funeral costs are capped at $12,818 (link to PDF).

For medical expenses, CalVCB has several reimbursement options, largely based on the current Medicare rates for services.

Mental health treatment reimbursement is also based on the victim’s relation to the crime, meaning the direct victim would get more hours in a therapy session than, for example, a family member.

Where can I seek help with the compensation application process?

The administrative process can be undoubtedly daunting — and complex. Luckily, there are victim advocates who can help people go through their applications. And while James said he would like to see this administrative burden on victims greatly reduced, people can turn to support groups and networks — who will most likely have someone who went through the same process — to get advice on navigating the system.

“You have others who have gone through that experience that can help prepare you to ask the questions that you may not have thought of, but also explain things that may be [new] information,” James said.

“Because, unfortunately, as our gun violence problem continues to go on, our survivor network is going to continue to be needed until we’re able to address this fully,” he said.

KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara, Jared Servantez and Katie DeBenedetti contributed to this story.