UW News

October 18, 2001

Campus Responding To Tragedy: Providing emotional relief

By Steve Hill
University Week


The tragedy of Sept. 11 may be more than a month old and it may have happened on the other side of the nation, but the UW community continues to respond to the resulting trauma.



During the Oct. 11 Day of Reflection and Engagement a UW professor spoke to students, faculty and staff in Kane Hall about trauma and its effects. The Student Counseling Center is focusing on outreach, encouraging whoever will listen to seek help and to talk about their feelings following the attacks. And another UW professor has received funding to open an emergency center in New York City to support traumatized journalists.


That’s just a small part of what has been a thorough reaction on campus. And it comes as no surprise to Roger Simpson, who directs the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the UW.


“I think everybody in the country and across the world, immediately after the attacks, had to come to some understanding of it,” he said. “That involves all of us. We are very much a community in that sense.”


Taking action is an important part of that process, according to Simpson and other trauma experts on campus.


“It stems from our emotional need to understand the threat and to come up with a response to it. We’re taking care of ourselves in that way,” said Simpson, who was recently awarded a $250,000 grant to open the Dart Center Ground Zero in New York City. The center will help traumatized journalists cope with the emotional rigors of their daily assignments at the site of what was the World Trade Center. The process of opening that office has been a therapeutic one for Simpson.


“I’ve been lucky. I’ve been talking about journalists in New York City since Sept. 11.”


President Richard L. McCormick suspended classes for Oct. 11 and called for a Day of Reflection and Engagement. The goal, according to the president, was to give people on campus the opportunity to learn from each other and to reflect on the significance and meaning of the events for our nation and the world.


Jon Conte, a social work professor, spoke during the Day of Reflection and Engagement events about his personal experience immediately following the attack and gave a primer about trauma, including a self-checklist. He was aboard a Denver-bound airplane that turned around, landing back in Seattle. Then he spent most of the next 24 hours watching television trying to understand what had happened.


“Finally my 17-year-old daughter came home from school and I hugged her and just started crying,” he said.


But he told those in attendance that there was no single correct way to respond to trauma.


“Who we are before a traumatic event may influence our reaction,” Conte said. “Everybody responds differently and we must be tolerant of each other and of different reactions.”


For example, oppressed groups and people who have experienced personal traumatic events such as rape or child abuse can be more affected by a traumatic event like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Conte said.


And no matter what your personal history is, some time away from news coverage of the traumatic event is important.


“There’s nothing wrong with denial, as long as there’s no adverse consequences. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with, na, na, na, na, na, na,” he said, drawing laugs as he closed his eyes and covered his ears to make a point.


With something this horrible, we have to go in and out of denial to protect ourselves, he said.


Officials at the Student Counseling Center haven’t noticed a dramatic increase in the number of students seeking help. But, according to John Yurich, interim director of the center, virtually all the students visiting his office mention the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.


“All of us are touched by it,” he said. Some, Yurich said, are more affected than others, noting that many students on campus are from the East Coast and know someone who died in the attack. “Virtually everybody is talking about it on some level and others are directly impacted by it.”


Simpson noted that most people have felt the need to do something in response to the attack. That, he said, is serving them well.


“When threatened as individuals we take action,” he said. “Our emotional system really serves us well in that respect. We’ve seen some amazing activism well outside of New York City or Washington, D.C.”