The following is an email that came from Dr. Joan Whitney, Director of
the Counseling Center, to faculty, to assist them with processing the
tragedy of yesterday with their students. Parents and family members
will also benefit from this information.
A Message from Dr. Joan Whitney
Dear Colleagues, Family & Friends,
As the Villanova community strives to support each other in the
aftermath of the tragedy of September 11, many individuals have
requested help in knowing how to best support our students. I have
outlined below some ideas about how people emotionally process a
tragedy. You may find it useful to consider these concepts, and
possibly even to share them with your students. By educating people
about predictable emotions, you can help them avoid being surprised or
worried about their individual emotions in the time ahead.
Please encourage students to make use of the resources of the University
Counseling Center, where counselors are available to support students
during this difficult time. They can schedule an individual,
confidential appointment by phoning 94050, or stopping by 106 Corr
Hall. Students will be informed of support groups by email and voice
mail.
I also encourage you to call the Counseling Center to consult us about
any concerns that arise. Faculty, family and friends are a core
resource in supporting our students, and we are happy to do whatever we
can to help you succeed in our mutual task.
_____________________________________________________
Joan Whitney, Ph.D., Director, University Counseling Center
106 Corr Hall, Phone 610 519-4050, Joan.Whitney@Villanova.Edu
Helping students impacted by the tragedy of September 11, 2001
Timing of Emotional responses are variable
-validate for students that it is legitimate for some people to react
immediately, and other people to react in a delayed way
Quality of emotional responses are variable
-Recognize that people will experience varying emotions, and possibly a
mixture, including anger, vulnerability, and resurfacing of emotions
about earlier losses.
-If you hear students "judge" others as under-reacting (being
"insensitive") or over-reacting (being excessively emotional), remind
them that all responses are acceptable
-Help students avoid "faulting" peers who vary in how they are reacting
-Accentuate that we need to respect others' different emotional styles
People are ready to "move ahead" with variable timing
-Acknowledge that people's readiness to move on (with regular class
material) varies
Some students will fear for their emotional stability
-You can reassure them that crisis situations bring out strong
emotions, and that feeling "unstable" is normal at this time. Feeling
"overwhelmed" will subside with time
-Encourage them to use the professional counseling resources of the
University, since professional counseling restores stability
Most important thing for any parent or family member is to LISTEN
-avoid the temptation to "do something" for a distressed student
-If we can tolerate listening without taking action, we will have
provided help
-Feeling ACCEPTED while articulating confusion or pain is very
affirming
This kind of tragedy is especially hard for people in the developmental
life stage typical of college students in the following ways:
Stage of Cognitive Development
During the college years, part of students' cognitive development is to
evolve from "dualistic" thinkers to
"relativistic" thinkers. Dualistic thinkers, who believe the world is
predictable, and that there are "right"
answers, are especially disturbed by a tragedy, since they cannot
identify the "right" action, right solution,
or right behavior that can eliminate the tragedy we have all witnessed.,
or their feelings about the
tragedy. Dualistic thinkers have special trouble tolerating
uncertainty or ambiguity
Stage of Emotional Development
Our new students are in the height of "separating" from parents. It is
normal to fear a "permanent" loss of loved ones, and a national tragedy
where lives are lost exaggerates those fears. Remind students that
leaving home for college is stressful, and that the stress diminishes
with each month ahead. Reassuring them that the vast majority of
students DO succeed in adjusting. .
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
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The following is an email that came from Dr. Joan Whitney, Director of
the Counseling Center, to faculty, to assist them with processing the tragedy
of yesterday with their students. Parents and family members will
also benefit from this information.
A Message from Dr. Joan Whitney
Dear Colleagues, Family & Friends,
As the Villanova community strives to support each other in the aftermath
of the tragedy of September 11, many individuals have requested help in
knowing how to best support our students. I have outlined below some
ideas about how people emotionally process a tragedy. You may find
it useful to consider these concepts, and possibly even to share them with
your students. By educating people about predictable emotions, you
can help them avoid being surprised or worried about their individual emotions
in the time ahead.
Please encourage students to make use of the resources of the University Counseling Center, where counselors are available to support students during this difficult time. They can schedule an individual, confidential appointment by phoning 94050, or stopping by 106 Corr Hall. Students will be informed of support groups by email and voice mail.
I also encourage you to call the Counseling Center to consult us about
any concerns that arise. Faculty, family and friends are a core resource
in supporting our students, and we are happy to do whatever we can to help
you succeed in our mutual task.
_____________________________________________________
Joan Whitney, Ph.D., Director, University Counseling Center
106 Corr Hall, Phone 610 519-4050, Joan.Whitney@Villanova.Edu
Helping students impacted by the tragedy of September 11, 2001
Timing of Emotional responses are variable
-validate for students that it is legitimate for some people
to react immediately, and other people to react in a delayed way
Quality of emotional responses are variable
-Recognize that people will experience varying emotions, and
possibly a mixture, including anger, vulnerability, and resurfacing of
emotions about earlier losses.
-If you hear students "judge" others as under-reacting (being
"insensitive") or over-reacting (being excessively emotional), remind them
that all responses are acceptable
-Help students avoid "faulting" peers who vary in how they are
reacting
-Accentuate that we need to respect others' different emotional
styles
People are ready to "move ahead" with variable timing
-Acknowledge that people's readiness to move on (with regular
class material) varies
Some students will fear for their emotional stability
-You can reassure them that crisis situations bring out strong
emotions, and that feeling "unstable" is normal at this time. Feeling
"overwhelmed" will subside with time
-Encourage them to use the professional counseling resources
of the University, since professional counseling restores stability
Most important thing for any parent or family member is to LISTEN
-avoid the temptation to "do something" for a distressed student
-If we can tolerate listening without taking action, we will have provided
help
-Feeling ACCEPTED while articulating confusion or pain is very
affirming
This kind of tragedy is especially hard for people in the developmental
life stage typical of college students in the following ways:
Stage of Cognitive Development
During the college years, part of students' cognitive development
is to evolve from "dualistic" thinkers to
"relativistic" thinkers. Dualistic thinkers, who believe the
world is predictable, and that there are "right"
answers, are especially disturbed by a tragedy, since they cannot identify
the "right" action, right solution,
or right behavior that can eliminate the tragedy we have all witnessed.,
or their feelings about the
tragedy. Dualistic thinkers have special trouble tolerating
uncertainty or ambiguity
Stage of Emotional Development
Our new students are in the height of "separating" from parents.
It is normal to fear a "permanent" loss of loved ones, and a national tragedy
where lives are lost exaggerates those fears. Remind students
that leaving home for college is stressful, and that the stress diminishes
with each month ahead. Reassuring them that the vast majority of
students DO succeed in adjusting. .
--------------329EDD0EF59DA84DFADB78FE--
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