 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
|
|
Counselors From Near and Far (Some on 4 Legs) Assist Those Dealing With the Aftermath
More coverage: Links to all of The Chronicle's coverage of the shootings at Virginia Tech.
 Printer friendly |
 article |
 Subscribe |
 Order reprints |
|
|
|||
 |
Discuss any Chronicle article in our forums | ||
|
Latest Headlines
Struggling Towns Turn to Small Private Colleges
In economically troubled areas, small private colleges help generate development projects in large part as a matter of survival. Endowment-Spending Talk Draws a Crowd of Tax Lawyers Learned Societies' Gathering Delves Into Political and Publishing Challenges Researchers Look Beyond Genetics to Help Doctors Predict Disease Militia Battles in Lebanon Rewrite Universities' Lesson Plans | |||
Financial-aid association will ban student-loan companies from sponsoring conference events
Attorneys general announce first multistate settlements in expanding student-loan inquiry
Classes resume at Virginia Tech, with most students returning
Counselors from near and far (some on 4 legs) assist those dealing with the aftermath
Senators talk of revising privacy laws in wake of tragedy at Virginia Tech
Opinion: Why it's OK to rat on other students
After the tragedy: messages to Virginia Tech's class of 2007
More articles, profiles of the victims, and other features on our site
Group names Colorado and 3 other states as targets for bans on affirmative-action preferences
More than 40 athletics programs are exploring life-insurance policies on boosters
Supreme Court lets whistle-blower suit against U. of Phoenix proceed
Federal appeals court finds no free-speech protection for college administrator's complaint
Report evaluates best technology tools for doing research on donors
Audio interview: Teaching soldiers in the field
Commencement speakers are announced by 20 colleges
Brinkley sat calmly near Virginia Tech's Norris Hall a little after 9 o'clock on Monday morning.
At that hour a week ago, classes had been under way in the building. That was before Norris Hall became synonymous with the deadliest shooting rampage in American history. The killer, Seung-Hui Cho, shot 30 students and professors dead in that attack before turning a gun on himself. The same morning, he had already killed another student and a resident assistant in a dormitory.
A week after the killings, Brinkley, a 3-year-old golden retriever trained in crisis relief and a veteran of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, was near Norris Hall in case anyone passing by needed a comforting lick.
He and his owners, Bill and Debbie Hatherley, of Hope Animal-Assisted Crisis Response, had come up from Atlanta to join the 200 paid and volunteer counselors on the campus Monday to help students and faculty and staff members cope with their emotional response to the tragedy.
The university assigned certified counselors to every class that one of Mr. Cho's victims taught or attended. Those counselors led discussion sessions, sat in on the classes, or waited outside, depending on what faculty members preferred.
Virginia Tech administrators kept open a crisis counseling center that has been operating for days in the Squires Student Center.
And counselors, many wearing purple armbands or "May I help?" stickers, also were posted in high-traffic areas of the campus. Their presence was particularly pronounced in the student union and on the Drillfield, which has become a focal point for mourning.
"One of the main things students are talking about is how surprised they are that this happened here," said Fawn V. Kimble, a counselor brought in by the campus's Christian Leadership Network. "But they say that they just wanted to be back here. It's a communal thing."
Ms. Kimble said she was surprised by the number of students who said they were going to class. Most were eager to return to normal, she said.
Chris Flynn, director of the university's Cook Counseling Services, credited the counselors with making the first day of classes after the attacks easier for students.
"The counselors have had a tremendous impact on how students have reacted today," he said. "They have had a calming effect."
Still, the most severe psychological trauma after a tragedy does not emerge for months, Mr. Flynn said. To deal with a potential uptick in demand, the university plans to have more counselors than normal on the campus when students return in the fall.