2005-2006
Year in Summary

• Faculty continue national leadership roles in the counseling field…
  • Laura Veach is President of IAAOC (International Association of Addiction and Offender Counselors.
  • Debbie Newsome is Secretary of AACE (Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education.)
  • Sam Gladding is immediate past-president of the American Counseling Association (ACA).
  • Donna Henderson is immediate past-president of ACES (Association for Counselor Educators and Supervisers).
  • Record number of applications for class entering fall of 2006 is received.
• The Counseling Suite undergoes renovations. Laura moves into a new office in the converted and expanded graduate assistant loft.  Becki Fulton, staff assistant and the GA’s move into the new department office, formerly Laura’s office.  And John expands his library into Becki’s old office in preparation for coming to the department full time.
• Henderson and Veach help hurrican Katrina victims. Full Details

  Dr. Henderson and Dr. Veach, professors in the Department of Counseling, volunteered to work as counselors in the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Both has since returned and share their impressions of the work they did and the clients they served.

  In the words of Donna Henderson: Jackson, Mississippi - “I went to the area impacted by Hurricane Katrina as a Red Cross mental health volunteer. ACA and other professional associations worked with the American Red Cross to meet the needs of the hurricane victims’ emotional trauma by asking for volunteers. I was sent to Jackson, Mississippi and worked in four different shelters that were set up in churches. I met with Red Cross staff, nurses, police, and the church volunteers about their concerns about shelter residents but also about their own issues such as fatigue, discouragement, frustration with systems and other problems that resulted from the enormous effort to help the displaced people. It was demanding, varied work - listening to horrible stories, helping with solving problems, celebrating finding a lost loved one, and much, much more. The experience has helped me discover a blinding flash of the obvious that I too often overlook: the enormous capacity for compassion that exists in the human spirit.”

  In the words of Laura Veach: Shreveport, LA –“It wasn't just another landing at the Shreveport airport for me. This time I was not here to just visit with family and have fun. I arrived to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees living in the Hirsch Coliseum, now a Red Cross Shelter for hundreds of people, coping with a disaster of gigantic proportions. Total shelter evacuees for Shreveport numbered 3,200 initially.

  I have over 23 years of counseling experience, specialized counseling certifications and licenses, even Red Cross disaster mental health training. My husband called New Orleans East his home for over 20 years, I completed my doctoral studies at the University of New Orleans, we still have family and close friends living in New Orleans, I understand the difference between the many parishes making up the metropolitan area, even our wonderful outdoor wedding was on the Gulf coast in Waveland, Mississippi and still I found myself asking, “How am I qualified to help so many who have lost so much”?

  The local licensed mental health and counseling professionals in Shreveport united to provide help in a very unique way as compared to most Red Cross shelters for the Gulf Coast evacuees. Instead of Red Cross mental health disaster workers, this shelter relied on representatives rotating from all counseling agencies in Shreveport and worked in the shelter 24 hours/day, 7 days/week helping evacuees and volunteers. We even worked with some of the Louisiana National Guard troops who were the first to be deployed to New Orleans and dealt with unfathomable destruction and its aftermath for 2 weeks - they now stood armed watch at our shelter. As a volunteer for this local team coordinated by LSU-Shreveport Disaster Relief Support Staff, I helped provide counseling services ranging from supportive counseling deciphering FEMA correspondence to emergency crisis stabilization for shelter residents experiencing psychotic or suicidal symptoms to angry outbursts by those who felt abandoned or left to die in the floods, railing against the failings of all.

  It remains a powerful life-changing experience for me. I connected with many people who reached out to connect with others, life, grief, loss and survival. As I teach my counseling students empathy skills, I ask them to imagine that all of us are suddenly living in the Greensboro Coliseum on cots and air mattresses for weeks on end without any income, no car, no belongings, lost family members, friends, and neighbors, without any recognizable landmarks, all routines completely wiped out, and no way of knowing if we even have a home remaining. Even with many days of record-breaking temperatures at 103 degrees, many shelter residents displayed more flexibility and resiliency after 3 weeks living in Hirsch Coliseum with 400 people than many of us who have our cars to drive every day, work at our jobs, sleep in our own private bed, relax in a real chair, and cook on our own stove. I left Louisiana knowing there are many more needs to support and aid in the recovery of such a vast region and I see counseling services as a critical component in the rebuilding for all.
  - Laura J. Veach

• In May 2006, John Anderson retires as VP of Finance and Administration and embarks on a year-long sabbatical before becoming a full time professor of counseling in academic year 2006-2007.
• Distinguished alumni award given to Roger Pearman, class of 1981.
• Jack Locicero, class of 1986, presents seminars related to grief counseling.
• Graduation 2006. Graduates in the class of 2006 continued the 100% pass rate for the National Counseling Exam. Six began Ph.D. programs and all were employed within two months of completing their degrees.

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