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MSU creates new student support office following mass shooting

April 17, 2023
<p>Debbie Stevenson (left) and Jenni Dickins (right) paint messages on rocks on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, for Spartan Sunday - an event organized by alumni and Spartan parents to welcome students and faculty back to campus. “We wanted to bring good sentiments people could take with them and, whenever they’re ready, they can hold their little rock and remember that people care about them,” Dickins said.</p>

Debbie Stevenson (left) and Jenni Dickins (right) paint messages on rocks on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, for Spartan Sunday - an event organized by alumni and Spartan parents to welcome students and faculty back to campus. “We wanted to bring good sentiments people could take with them and, whenever they’re ready, they can hold their little rock and remember that people care about them,” Dickins said.

Following the mass shooting on Feb. 13, the Michigan State University has developed a new office for student support.

The Office of Resource and Support Coordination is a new addition to the university, modeled after similar concepts at different universities that have been through tragic events. 

“Our office will serve as the central point of contact for victims of the February 13 shooting, their families and proximate witnesses,“ the office's co-director Dave Brewer said. 

Brewer is working side by side with Natalie Moser to establish resources for those who were affected by the shooting. Some of these include community-building events between affected people and making them aware of other university resources.

Brewer was the director of building services for MSU's Infrastructure, Planning and Facilities and is a member of university emergency operations. Moser is the current director of the MSU Psychological Clinic and a founder of MSU's trauma services and training network.

The office serves as a place to help provide trauma-informed guidance to different programs, activities and policies that are directed towards Feb. 13. 

“We fully recognize that our entire community went through, what I would call a community-based trauma, and that everybody is impacted in different ways and at different points in their journey,” Moser said. 

Students will soon be able to go to a website in order to utilize some of these resources. For now, they can reach out to ORSC@msu.edu for more support. 

“We can give them a central place to go to receive services and information regarding how we can support their mental health and well-being along this journey, I think that's going to be impactful for our campus community as a whole,” MSU deputy spokesperson Dan Olsen said. 

The Office of Resource and Support Coordination is still in its early stages of development.

“I hope that people continue to recognize the support that we have to offer it at whatever stage they're in at whatever moment in time,” Moser said. 

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