While 18 people endured the physical wounds from the Feb. 14 shootings, the NIU community as a whole endured the emotional wounds.

Tending to those emotional wounds were Micky Sharma, director of the Counseling and Student Development Center, and his staff.

Sharma’s professional career has focused on university counseling centers, making NIU’s the sixth he has worked for. Yet, all of Sharma’s experiences could not prepare him for a crisis of Feb. 14’s magnitude.

“In terms of personal experience, I’ve certainly dealt with crises and things like that but nothing on [Feb. 14’s] level,” Sharma said. “It’s difficult to be fully prepared for something like this, but what helps is being part of a larger mental health community.”

At the time of the shootings, Sharma had not even been with NIU for a year; he arrived in 2007.

That spring semester of the shootings, Sharma found his department busier than ever as he said that the number of people coming in increased exponentially. The following fall semester also showed increased numbers compared to the last fall semester.

“I think it’s a good thing that these people are coming forward because, emotionally, people are more open to talking about how they’re feeling,” Sharma said. “That’s a good thing because what’s not healthy, what’s not a good coping strategy, is that you don’t talk about it.”

Despite all the emotional distress that resulted from the shootings and the size of the task at hand, Sharma liked to focus more on the positive aspects of the healing process.

“When you go through a tragedy like that, you also have the opportunity and the honor and the privilege to experience the most wonderful parts and strengths of people that they have to offer,” Sharma said.

As NIU approaches the one-year anniversary of the shootings, Sharma has found a return to normalcy: the number of cases related to the shootings has lessened.

Most of the cases the counseling center addresses now involve depression, anxiety, relationship issues or academic struggles, cases that Sharma regarded as usual college student struggles.
In the course of the last year, Sharma has found students to be healing well.

“We’ve had plenty of opportunities to see resiliency, strength and students gaining hope,” Sharma said. “I think, for our community, many of our students are feeling more of a connection to NIU, developing an appreciation for relationships and not taking things for granted.”

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