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Saturday, March 8, 2008 9:37 AM CST
Lake Land College counselor travels to Northern Illinois University to help students, faculty cope with tragedy
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
MATTOON — It took Mary Beals about three hours for the drive to Northern Illinois University two weeks ago.
And she didn’t know what she was going to face after the tragedy there.
The Lake Land College counselor was one of several hundred mental health professionals who provided “psychological first aid” for the university community of DeKalb after the Feb. 14 shootings that left five NIU students dead. The counselors arrived on Feb. 24 as the university prepared for a memorial service, which featured students holding flowers and the overwhelming feeling of sadness.
“I was wondering what the situation would be like. I really didn’t know,” Beals recalled of traveling to Northern with full backing of the administration of Lake Land College.
She was paired as a roommate in a local hotel with a counselor from a Detroit obstetrics clinic. Both talked about their jobs and personal lives after they met.
“She was going to be away from her three children while she was at Northern. I then realized I was not making much of a sacrifice to be up there,” Beals said.
But the NIU community was ready to make whatever sacrifices it could to help students, faculty and staff cope with the tragedy.
“You have to understand DeKalb is a town about the size of Charleston. And it was having 500 volunteers come in. And everything was so well-organized. You saw the posters everywhere in the community reminding people to move forward together,” Beals said.
At the memorial service, Beals and other volunteers were there to help any students showing signs of needing help. But she was impressed with how young people came forward to help their peers.
“My son attends Rose- Hulman, but he is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity so he traveled up there for the memorial service. It was something to see my son supportive of others his age. Then I talked with another counselor whose son attends NIU. She talked about not being able to reach her son for 45 minutes after she first learned of the shootings. We talked about it. I never thought I’d be helping a helper when I was there,” Beals said.
Over the next few days, she talked with about 200 people, including faculty members. Some involved group settings, like in classrooms of 30 students or more. Others were smaller groups or with individuals.
“We were offering psychological first aid. And then we mentioned the resources they could use in DeKalb,” Beals said. “All the counselors were answering questions or helping determine whether someone was in crisis.”
In one classroom, Beals worked with a first-year teacher worried whether she could get her students through the first class session after the shootings.
Then a graduate student summed up the shock and anger from that day for many at the university.
“She said, ‘You don’t expect to come to class to get shot in the face,’” Beals said.
She noted the university was ready to get back to work after the long break. But she worried about the faculty and staff working so hard to help with the healing process for the students.
“They are at a different healing stage than the students. But this all showed how much NIU cares for its students. They are very dedicated to them,” Beals said.
Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
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