"What needs to happen at Virginia Tech right now is a psychological triage."

So said crisis response expert Scott Poland, a professor of psychology at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Poland has served on national crisis teams after school shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado and at Red Lake, Minn.

In an interview via e-mail, Poland said that "about 60 percent of Virginia Tech's students will bounce back with little or no psychological damage" from the shootings of April 16. About 20 percent will suffer minor psychological problems, he said, and a "final 20 percent are at risk for major problems."

He described "three circles of vulnerability."

The first includes students and staff who were near the shootings. The second includes those who were "in close social proximity to the shooting victims -- people who were their close friends or roommates, for example." Finally, he said, the third circle includes people who "have had a history of trauma or violence in their family."

Crisis intervention expert Lennis Echterling of James Madison University also said many affected by the shootings should recover without lingering psychological damage.

"We're finding that most people, in spite of trauma and tragedy, display a remarkable resilience," said Echterling. "PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] does emerge, but it is typically not the majority," he said.

A book Echterling co-authored with JMU colleagues Jack Presbury and Ed McKee -- "Crisis Intervention: Promoting Resilience and Resolution in Troubled Times" -- includes a quote from psychologist and philosopher William James: "Great emergencies and crises show us how much greater our vital resources are than we had supposed."

Echterling said many people receive more effective support, during an event's immediate aftermath, from people they know than from mental health professionals.

Some professionals might "jump in too quickly" with intensive psychotherapy, he said. Professional counseling can follow after the first, emotionally raw days pass.

Echterling, director of counseling psychology at JMU, responded as a crisis manager to the Pentagon in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. He said crisis intervention professionals have learned the value of working behind the scenes -- preparing teachers, pastors, coaches, teammates, friends, relatives and volunteers to provide social and emotional support.

"What we've been learning from Columbine, 9/11, Katrina and other events is the value of a person's natural support network," he said.

Relatives and friends offering comfort to anguished parents should give them "a chance to talk this through," without judgment or superficial advice, he said. People must listen with undivided attention and grieving family members must "feel heard, understood and accepted," Echterling said.

Mary Hermann, an assistant professor for Virginia Commonwealth University's department of counselor education, said via e-mail Wednesday that it is important, in the wake of tragedy, to "recognize that people, especially young people, deal with grief in different ways."

Like Echterling, Hermann advised people affected by the shootings to reach out to support systems that include relatives and friends but to also seek professional counseling.

Counselors have poured into Blacksburg to offer services to anyone who needs to talk about Cho Seung-Hui's murderous rampage Monday and its aftermath.

Steve Strosnider, managing partner for Psychological Health Roanoke, said nearly all of the practice's 13 clinicians have worked in Blacksburg. He emphasized that his practice is but one of many sending mental health professionals to help with crisis counseling.

"It's not like the mental health people are showing up with all the answers," said Strosnider. "We're not there to impose anything on anybody."

Counselors can help people realize that their sorrow, anger and other intense feelings are normal, he said.

Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, the community services board serving the Roanoke Valley, has set up temporary emergency response centers at Roanoke Regional Airport and at a Marriott Courtyard hotel off Hershberger Road and Ordway Drive.

Hunter Roberts, executive office administrator for BRBH, said the agency is working with the Red Cross at the airport.

"We have escorted friends and family members of the victims to Blacksburg from the airport," he said. The response center at the Marriott Courtyard is available to assist anyone struggling emotionally in the aftermath of Monday's horror.

Separately, Echterling said first responders frequently suffer a specific kind of grief after arriving at a crime scene to find victims of violence.

"It's really hard for them to be in the role of recovering bodies rather than being in the role of rescuers," he said.

The horror at Virginia Tech has affected many people who have no direct ties to the university, he said. Children and adults alike will search for responses that might help them cope with such unfathomable loss and retrieve some sense of empowerment, Echterling said.

Elementary students might draw pictures to send the university, he said. Others might raise money for worthy causes. People can donate blood.

A random act of violence can be followed by random acts of kindness, Echterling said.