In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky case that has consumed the Penn State community for the past nine months, the Office of Human Resources has organized a two-day seminar to help university employees cope.
The sessions will be called “Healing and Moving Forward,” University Spokeswoman Lisa Powers wrote in an email.
An email was sent out to all Penn State employees, from Susan McGarry Basso, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, which detailed the opportunity for Penn State employees from all campuses to partake in the seminars.
The focus of these seminars is to give Penn State employees the opportunity to “share the impact” of the events surrounding the university, Basso said, according to the email.
“The entire University community, as you know, has been deeply affected by the scandal and the Office of Human Resources, along with Penn State administration, felt employees needed a way to process the events and deal with their feelings related to these events,” Basso wrote.
The employees will have the opportunity to seek support and information through seminars that will be offered at different locations and times on the University Park campus on Aug. 15 and 16.
University Park employees will have the opportunity to attend sessions that do not require registration and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, Powers said.
Basso said the same opportunity will be available for those Penn State employees that work at commonwealth campuses.
“For campuses away from University Park, we are scheduling individual sessions at the request of the chancellor or other senior leaders for a date and time convenient for the campus,” Basso said.
Basso said the meetings will be confidential and asked that the discussions shared during the meetings stay between those in the group.
“These facilitated group discussions are designed to allow you an opportunity to share your grief, anger and insights regarding past and present events,” Basso said.
Powers said there will be six sessions on each of the days and the seminars will be able to accommodate up to 200 people in each session.
“The sessions are geared toward addressing the events of the past 9 months and to offering people an opportunity to talk about their emotions and discover coping mechanisms,” Powers said.
In addition, Powers said the Office of Student Affairs will be offering resources through Penn State’s Counseling and Psychological Services for those students who want to seek help in dealing with the events surrounding the university.
