cpsylist: Connection to community

[Benedict McWhirter]

Dear CPSY Community:


Yesterday was an extremely distressing day and unprecedented in US history. Along with your faculty, I am proud of you as professionals and future advocates in a world that needs your Counseling Psychology skills and expertise more than ever. You are the future professionals who will engage communities, work in schools and with families, and will care for clients in ways that promote a healthy society and that promote engagement in difficult and important conversations. The fact that the rioters in DC today were treated quite differently than the Black Lives Matter protestors in DC and other cities just a few months ago speaks to the systematic racism embedded in our society. As a community of scholars, we stand together to support each other and those who are more vulnerable.



The events of today are an unsettling way to start winter term, particularly in our remote Zoom classroom environment and while physically distancing from those outside of the household “pod.” If you are finding it difficult to concentrate, you are not alone. Please reach out to me, your advisor, or other faculty or fellow students in the program if it would be helpful in these stressful times. If you are feeling able to support others, please reach out to your fellow students/peers to see if they need anything. We are a community in this program and department and are here for each other!


I hope that seditionists and rioters are prosecuted fully and face the consequences of their actions. And I hope that peace and justice prevail, as one cannot exist without the other.


With care and respect,

Benedict

__________________________________________________________
Benedict T. McWhirter, Ph.D.
Professor, Counseling Psychology and Prevention Science
Program Director, Counseling Psychology Program
College of Education
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR  97403-5251

benmcw at uoregon.edu
541-346-2410

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.uoregon.edu/pipermail/cpsylist/attachments/20210107/a90a62a2/attachment-0001.html>