Town Square

Dealing with trauma and understanding crowd safety in the Astroworld Festival aftermath

A psychiatrist and a crowd control expert explore the mental health impacts of surviving the Astroworld tragedy, as well as the risks and strategies of crowd control. We also take a closer look at the timeline of events.

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Candles are left outside NRG Park, the site of the deadly Astroworld musical festival in Houston.

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Town Square with Ernie Manouse airs at 3 p.m. CT. Tune in on 88.7FM, listen online or subscribe to the podcast. Join the discussion at 888-486-9677, questions@townsquaretalk.org or @townsquaretalk.

It still seems unreal.

A week ago, people were so excited about Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival, counting down the days.

But then tragedy struck on Friday night with crowd surges leading to the deaths of 8 concertgoers.

Yesterday on "Town Square," we wanted to get a general understanding of what happened and hear firsthand accounts.

Today, we continue our coverage by finding out what else we're learning – from the timeline of events to remembering the victims.

We also examine the mental health impact that's unfolding. How do we help concertgoers cope with the trauma of that night?

And we look at crowd control – what are the risks of large events, and how do we prevent something like this from happening again?

Guests:

Lucio Vasquez

  • Houston Public Media reporter

Paul Wertheimer

  • Founder of Crowd Management Strategies

Dr. Jon Stevens

  • Chief of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Chief of Outpatient Services at The Menninger Clinic

Mental health resources:

  • Harris County Center for Mental Health 713-970-7000 – option 1
  • Better Help is providing one month of free one-on-one sessions through their partnership with Travis Scott. You can access it here.
  • The Harris Center for Mental Health

Town Square with Ernie Manouse is a gathering space for the community to come together and discuss the day’s most important and pressing issues.

Audio from today's show will be available after 5 p.m. CT. We also offer a free podcast here, on iTunes, and other apps.

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This article is part of the Town Square with Ernie Manouse podcast

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Catherine Lu

Catherine Lu

Senior Content Producer & Announcer

While growing up in Chicago and Houston, Catherine’s love for art, music and creative writing was influenced by her teachers and parents. She was once concertmaster of the Clear Lake High School Orchestra and a four-time violinist of the Texas All-State Symphony. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Catherine...

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