2008 Woodie Awards
Campus counselors travel to NIU, provide grief counsel
Josh Smith
Issue date: 3/19/08 Section: News
One week after the tragedy that took place Feb. 14 at Northern Illinois University, students and faculty found themselves back on campus trying to go about their normal routines. Along side the students to aide their transition were more than 500 counselors from all over the country. Among those counselors were three people from UW-Whitewater: Lynn Mucha, Steve Naymic and Richard Jazdzewski.
After the incident, classes at NIU were cancelled for the following week. The break allowed time for students to be near family and friends and start the grieving process.
"The process started long before we got there," said Jazdzewski, director at University Health and Counseling Services. "Each person's grief and loss process is very individualized. Everyone kind of experiences their own process."
Understanding that each person will grieve in his or her own way was important for Jazdzewski and other counselors to understand. They wanted students to know they were on campus but at the same time let students come to them.
"I think the students were definitely appreciative of counselors from other places," Jazdzewski said. "They were trying to come back and make sense of a very tragic event. That doesn't mean everyone there said, 'I need to talk to a counselor.'"
Jazdzewski said the NIU counseling staff worked with the faculty during the week the students were away from campus to help with the healing period. When students returned, they had many people to turn to with both counselors and teachers.
"The plan was to have a counselor in each classroom the [next] Monday," Jazdzewski said. "We were going in to try and help students understand their own emotional reaction and their own understanding of a very difficult situation."
During his stay on the NIU campus, Jazdzewski was impressed with the way the school and community were pulling together to work through their grief.
"Their mantra was, 'forward, together, forward,' and you could really see folks reaching out to one another to help … move forward," Jazdzewski said. "That was consistently demonstrated with the classes [and] the memorial service. NIU and the surrounding communities were working together. It was amazing to see how everyone was taking care of one another."
By the time Jazdzewski left NIU, he could already see the students making progress.
"It was an incredibly emotional experience to see the students come together," Jazdzewski said. "It was very powerful."
After the incident, classes at NIU were cancelled for the following week. The break allowed time for students to be near family and friends and start the grieving process.
"The process started long before we got there," said Jazdzewski, director at University Health and Counseling Services. "Each person's grief and loss process is very individualized. Everyone kind of experiences their own process."
Understanding that each person will grieve in his or her own way was important for Jazdzewski and other counselors to understand. They wanted students to know they were on campus but at the same time let students come to them.
"I think the students were definitely appreciative of counselors from other places," Jazdzewski said. "They were trying to come back and make sense of a very tragic event. That doesn't mean everyone there said, 'I need to talk to a counselor.'"
Jazdzewski said the NIU counseling staff worked with the faculty during the week the students were away from campus to help with the healing period. When students returned, they had many people to turn to with both counselors and teachers.
"The plan was to have a counselor in each classroom the [next] Monday," Jazdzewski said. "We were going in to try and help students understand their own emotional reaction and their own understanding of a very difficult situation."
During his stay on the NIU campus, Jazdzewski was impressed with the way the school and community were pulling together to work through their grief.
"Their mantra was, 'forward, together, forward,' and you could really see folks reaching out to one another to help … move forward," Jazdzewski said. "That was consistently demonstrated with the classes [and] the memorial service. NIU and the surrounding communities were working together. It was amazing to see how everyone was taking care of one another."
By the time Jazdzewski left NIU, he could already see the students making progress.
"It was an incredibly emotional experience to see the students come together," Jazdzewski said. "It was very powerful."
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