Kari Bryan - Columbine Survivor 

I attended Columbine in 96 but due to financial issues my mother had us move to a different location. Very grateful for that.

Trauma is a spectrum. Its interesting to see people on all points on the spectrum related to this tragedy.

I understand this kind of grief. We don’t have to be at the scene to be traumatized. And because of this, its more confusing. Trauma is trauma. Much love

Message from a psychotherapist: a criteria for PTSD is “if you knew someone who experienced a traumatic event”. So you can experience trauma by knowing someone who was a part of a traumatic event. So yes indirectly experiencing trauma counts. Good day.

The columbine school shooting affects everyone. It was such a tragedy and sadly was the start of several school shootings since. Kari Bryan is a courageous woman for telling her story. Thank God she wasn’t at school that day. I absolutely believe that it affected her just the same as it did her school mates because she attended the school’s home study program and also attended the school and knew the shooters. She’s such a brave lady God bless her

Sending so much love to all those closely affected by the shootings. Whether you would class Kari as a survivor or not, this was her school: her boyfriend and friends went there, she knew the perpetrators, she could potentially have been in the school. Call it what you like, this was deeply traumatic for her and others like her. I can remember it (I was 13 at the time, living in the UK) and I can remember being very affected by it, so heaven knows how traumatic it must have been for her. Big big love to you Kari! You expressed your feelings and experience really well.

Honestly all the people saying she isn’t a “real survivor” are just rude and not emphatic at all. She went through some real shit as well as the ones who were in the school just different. Their stories shouldn’t just be unheard/untold. This woman is so so strong and she send some really important messages.

Why does the title of Columbine Survivor offend so many people? Kari obviously experienced very deep suffering from the Columbine shooting, and is simply sharing her personal experiences with the internet, for anyone who is interested to hear. There is no reason to criticize her for this. I personally found her account to be very thoughtful and enlightening, and am grateful that she shared her perspective.

People who are saying she isn’t a survivor must have no empathy for any person affected by this senseless tragedy. Had she not been called into work that morning, she would have been at the school. She didn’t know her brother was okay at first, her boyfriend was locked in the choir room for hours before the police finally came in and cleared the scene. She knew the shooters and essentially grew up with them. When something happens so close to home and affects those you love and care for, it will affect you. This woman is surviving despite all of the trauma and emotional pain she has been put through. Shame on you.

I hurt for her. It’s so hard to be traumatized and no one thinks you should have been traumatized, not even yourself. I say this as someone who lived near NYC during the 9/11 attacks.

Very inspiring story. I love how she speaks

Kari, I can hear the strength in you. ❤️ Survivor's guilt is real and strong.

Dear beautiful girl. Your insight into yourself and the need for help for trauma victims is outstanding. I'm so sorry for your losses, your experiences with damaging coping methods and for your continuing struggles with fear and triggers. I promise you that your beautiful honesty has greatly helped and touched me. Your eloquence took me with you on your journey. I could clearly see parallels with my own life's traumas and the changes in direction that my life took as a result of my brokenness. I understand the need to protect your children when you are driven by fear. Nobody understands, but you still have to feel that you are doing all that you can to protect them. My best form of defence is to renew my faith that God loves my children even more than I do. Your grace, your determination, your incredible insight, and your blossoming appreciation of yourself are all wonderful to observe

Many people do not realize you don't actually even have to be in a place to also be a survivor of such a tragedy. When you know that friends, family members, teachers, or any other people you feel protective to, get harmed, or even the agony when you don't know if they are hurt or not, this causes a trauma. Bless you all who dealt or are dealing with this trauma, may your path brings you into a place of peace and calm and safety.

I think her interview has been my favorite so far.

I can’t even beg j to imagine the amount of PTSD her and the other survivors have after this .

If a drunk driver were barrelling down the street headed my way, and I jumped or someone suddenly pulled me back...I would have just survived being hit and maybe killed. If someone were about to board the Titanic, but last minute didn't make it on before it set sail...they would have survived the sinking because they had every intention of being there, but weren't. She was planning to go to school that day, but her plans changed last minute because of her job. She IS a survivor. End of story.

Praying for you and just a know that you are not alone in this ever

Omg, I cannot imagine what you have and are still going through. You are so brave and strong and resilient. I wish I can just give you a big hug.

All of these accounts are just so moving. 😓 Must be incredibly hard for her given the fact that she knew Eric and Dylan. She must feel like she didn’t know them at all, given what they did.

That was so sad for that community God Bless all the students and family

Thx kari for speaking up...u just helped me realize that my life right now is unbearable because of PTSD...although not part of Columbine I have other trauma and feel like the squirrel cage of a brain of mine leads my life..so often i think well, there are others that have been thru worse so I am not important enough to use help...u have given me a glimmer of hope...I hope. so much that changes how i feel.If u have any advice for me id appreciate it...

Her story is full of survivor's guilt and trauma. Whether she was there or not, she was SUPPOSED to be and knew the people involved. It could have easily been her in that cafeteria, but wasn't and she can't come to terms with why she is traumatized but was lucky enough to not be there. I can't imagine what the scenarios her mind puts her through. I would imagine it would be very close to 9/11 survivors who were late for work that day. My heart goes out to her.

Eric and Dylan messed up a lot of these people’s lives. I wasn’t there but I remember it vividly when I heard the news.

If a therapist honestly told her "I don't know how to help you!"...that's shitty! Imagine being her, knowing she was supposed to be in that building, knowing she knew Eric and Dylan along with those killed.....the guilt she must carry day in and day is probably absolutely overwhelming!!! She turned to drugs, she was hospitalized for trying to commit suicide!!! The trauma spectrum is different in her case...but she was absolutely affected!! PTSD sounds real here! Hopefully she finds peace one day knowing that god had another plan for her! Bless her heart!

You are brave for sharing. Praying for you

I hope she is well and ok now.

Being a part of a school shooting is very traumatic. There different types of trauma. Just because you didn’t witness Dylan/Eric shooting your school mates doesn’t mean 😭 it didn’t effect you the same. It effected you psychologically and emotionally. PTSD effects people differently also. I hope you are getting the help you need to thrive as a woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend.

❤️

Being homeschooled isn't bad I was homeschooled when Columbine happen

Her humor about the ghetto made me realize how much more frequently people in ghettos experience trauma if hearing sirens so much frequently than non-ghetto areas is anything to go by.

For all of those saying she isn't a survivor because she wasn't actually there, one of the Victims, Lance, who was shot 5 times, once in the face. Used to feel the same way until it all came crashing down on him in 2015 and he learned more about PTSD and how it can affect people, there or not and how it can be there and the person who has it not even notice. He nows says just because a student wasn't in the school or maybe wasn't injured, he doesn't judge them or "call bullshit" on their PTSD because he can understand them better, now facing his own PTSD. If a student who was shot 5 times in the face, can look at this woman and consider her a victim, I think we can as well. I can understand the other side, I find myself feeling or thinking the same sometimes.. you weren't there.. stop trying to get your five minutes of fame but I don't know how you would feel, in her situation or someone else's coming from being around something like this, so I don't know if I wouldn't be just like her if I was from that community during that time.

She was pretty-looking in high school. Wow!

The thing that i usually think when seeing these vids is how eric and dylan in the basement tapes said they hope survivors have flashbacks. They succeeded there unfortunately.

She is pretty

Her ghetto comment validate survivor Corrie Whitfields statement of how there was only 5 black children in the school and how they were subjected to racial slurs and behavior on a daily basis this is just sad prayers up to all the students and faculty and their families

How is she a Columbine Survivior ? She wasn't even at the High School or involved when it happened ? "We were at home so we were okay ." She and her family were safe ... Not trying to downplay her Trauma in any way, just trying to understand

i wonder how many of the students who survived follow through with their dreams after high school graduation or if they were derailed by addiction, depression, fear, anger, etc.

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍💒

9th grade is Jr high in some areas? Weird?

I love how she said that homeschoolers would never learn anything. I’m not homeschooled but I have homeschooled friends and they have showed me their books and online stuff. It’s legit. I think they are smarter than me haha. I feel bad for her and her family. They are lucky that they all were not there that day. I can understand why she has PTSD and feels bad and stuff. I don’t really think that she is a survivor from it though. I mean she is but not...idk what I’m trying to say...

I was living in Manhattan when 9/11 happened. That morning, I was supposed to have breakfast with a friend that morning who was an intern in an office in one of the towers. I ended up oversleeping. My brother shook me awake and turned on the news. Immediately, I thought of my friend who worked in one of the buildings that was on fire. I tried calling her and couldn’t get through. I tried calling her parents and couldn’t get through. It took 30 hours for me to find out that my close friend since 1st grade was all right and safely got out of the buildings. Do I call myself a survivor of 9/11? No! That would be a slap in the face to the people who lived through it. It would be a slap in the face to the firefighters and police who lost so many friends and coworkers. It would be a slap in the face to my friend who has had to go through years of nightmares because of what she went through. Even after she got out of the building she had to run to avoid the bodies of the people who jumped from the top floors to avoid being burned alive. She saw first hand what a fall like that does to a person. Lady you are connected to Columbine but you are not a survivor. Suck it up!

Btw I’m the psychotherapist 😂❤️🙌🏾

So you only hear Gun shots in the Ghetto? Smh

Check him out😂

I have a serious question and I'm a know it's gonna come across as ignorant why would anybody who went through something like that why would you want children when it is so ingrained that this tromma is left lat. Has left a lasting indelible per impression on

Unremarkable story

To all the people saying she's not a real survivor because she wasn't there, tell that to all the people who watched the towers fall live on TV. It effected ALL of us. Just like columbine. It effected the nation. Don't be willfully ignorant. Every student has a story. She is a survivor by chance. The emotional toll is still trauma.

She's not a survivor, she was not there. She knows a survivor.

This girl was messed up before the shooting

So she's not really a survivor...she wasn't even in the school.

Sirens=Ghetto? Yikes.

You watched it on TV, and have the audacity to call yourself a survivor? Wow.

She isn't a survivor.. She wasn't even there.

She is not a survivor. It really is such a disgrace to people who were actually in the school and lived through it. People watched their friends and classmates get shot and die. She. Wasn't. There.

How can she have PDSD? She wasn't even in school that day. How could she have survivor guilt, she wasn't even there to see people being shot and killed.

she didnt do anything

What a joke... there’s people that are actually survivors of this tragedy and this clown has the audacity to be interviewed