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What grief support may look like following Vikings player’s death
A psychologist for the nation’s largest sports leagues highlights how one teammate’s death can affect an entire organization.
MINNEAPOLIS — As the community awaits answers in the early Saturday morning crash that killed Minnesota Vikings rookie cornerback Khyree Jackson and 2 others in Maryland, players are trying to process the sudden loss.
The 24-year-old remained on the Vikings Roster Monday. Although he was a rookie, players got to know him at Organized Team Activities earlier in the offseason.
“I’m just looking forward to making my impact out here,” Jackson said in an online video posted in late April. “I’m just looking forward to, you know, making Vikings Nation proud.”
Sports psychologist Dr. T.M. Mosley understands it may be hard to hear his voice or see his face. Many things can trigger grief, she says.
“It often happens in ways that we sometimes can’t anticipate,” Mosley said. “It becomes more real the closer you get to returning to the field or returning to work so to speak, which is why in thinking about grief it really does ebb and flow. There are going to be days that are going to be really difficult and hard to manage and we don’t know what that timeline is going to look like.”
Based in Minneapolis, Mosley is founder of the Playbook and has provided support for all major sports leagues, including the NFL.
“What I love about sports is we have this baked-in belongingness because we are a team, we’re a cohesive unit,” she said. “So when there is a significant loss of some sort, it’s felt across an entire organization.”
She says that includes everyone from office workers to athletes and medics.
The Vikings start the 2024 Training Camp in just a couple of weeks.
“We’re both grieving and mourning the loss and preparing for an extremely high performance season, and so having to manage both of those things and not choosing one or the other, which the Vikings have been masterful with doing that over the years unfortunately with other crises and trauma,” Mosley said.
Mosley says if she were consulting for the Vikings right now, she would offer three areas of advice. First, to provide the opportunity for professional support such as individual and group counseling sessions. Secondly, she says players, coaches and staff members would benefit from reaching out to one another to check-in, whether by email, text or voice memo. Finally, she says the sports team or community could help out with things like providing meals to take some stress off the plate.
“So, how do we come in and co-create an environment that gives people the tools and resources they need to take it one day at a time, to take care of themselves while also recognizing there is no timeline for grief, but there are some things we can do to put them in the ecosystem so people feel supported and they feel cared for,” Mosley said. “Grief has this way of shattering us and also shaping us.”
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Police said the 7-year-old victim was skateboarding on Saturday night.
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The road closure is expected to last until about 11:30 p.m. tonight, according to MnDOT.
MINNETONKA, Minn. — Officials have closed the westbound lanes of US Highway 12 starting at I-494 in Minnetonka after a collision occurred on Saturday night.
According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s 511 Map, the road is closed and there was a “serious crash,” on the highway.
The road closure is expected to last until about 11:30 p.m. tonight, according to MnDOT.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
“It’s amazing how well and good the people are helping out,” volunteer Connie Guinn said.
ELK PARK, N.C. — It’s still difficult for Mike Ellenburg to see the damage Helene left in Elk Park, North Carolina.
“Never in my lifetime, no I have not,” Ellenburg, Fire Chief at the Elk Park Volunteer Fire Department, said. “We had to bring in heavy equipment and open the road up.”
The storm left homes destroyed, trees toppled and cars flipped. It’s left roads near rivers and creeks nearby unrecognizable.
“Used to be a paved road, houses on both sides,” he said. “They’re gone.”
“You’ll see some vehicles down here that are sideways, and they’ll have spray paint on ’em,” Ellenburg continued. “Marking that that vehicle has been checked and that nobody was inside of it or around it.”
Ellenburg says he believes there are four areas around Elk Park in a similar state, damaged and difficult to get into. Despite that, help is still coming, both from the town and the rest of the state.
“We’re just trying to get it organized,” Connie Guinn, a volunteer said, standing in front of pallets of food and water. “Because we can’t find nothing, and neither can anybody else.”
Donations have continued to arrive at the Elk Park Volunteer Fire Department. Ellenburg says some have even come from around the country.
Other agencies, like the Dallas, North Carolina volunteer fire department, have also arrived to help where they can.
“It’s amazing how well and good the people are helping out,” Guinn said.
Ellenburg says it will take time to rebuild their community, but it’s made easier to get through with neighbors like theirs.
“I would only say that I don’t want to live anywhere else but here in Avery County, North Carolina,” he said.
