Ethics Institute Looks at Aftermath of Trauma in Classroom, Workplace

Discussions about trauma in the classroom and workplace are on tap as SUNY Plattsburgh’s Institute for Ethics in Public Life hosts its next series, “The Ethics of Dealing with Trauma.”

Portia Turco, clinical mental health counseling program coordinator and Ward Hall Counseling Clinic director, will start things office Wednesday, Oct. 13 at noon in the Hermes Conference Room, Au Sable Hall, where she will lead a discussion on “The Ethics of Dealing (or Not Dealing) with Trauma in the Workplace or Classroom.” The program will also be live streamed at facebook.com/PlattsEthics and instagram.com/PlattsEthics.

Small group — or pod — activities and discussions make up the rest of the month’s offerings, held both online and in various locations on campus. Sessions include:

• “Trauma in the Classroom, Continuing the Discussion,” noon, Monday, Oct. 25, online. This is a chance for students and teachers from the college and beyond to share concerns about ethical implications and ideas for navigating through these issues
• “A Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Circle,” noon, Wednesday, Oct. 27, the lawn on the western side of Beaumont Hall. TRHT is a comprehensive, national and community-based process to plan for and bring about transformational and sustainable change and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism. Led by Dr. Michelle Cromwell, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, Dr. Michelle Bonati, assistant professor, education, and Dr. Vincent Carey, professor and chair, history, the circle will use this process to help the community gain an understanding of the factors that are blocking progress. Rain site: Alumni Conference Room, Angell College Center

• “A Meditation Pod,” 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 28, online. Led by Dr. Paul Deal, assistant professor, counseling and human services, this session will provide a chance to practice self-care, which is so critical when faced with an individual’s own or others people’s traumas
• “After a Mass Shooting Happens Discussion,” noon, Friday, Oct. 29, Cardinal Lounge, Angell College Center. Led by Dr. Curt Gervich and Amy Gervich, this forum will open with a discussion of what it was like to be at Virginia Tech during and after the mass shooting in 2007 and other incidents of campus violence. The Gerviches will reflect on their experience and facilitate a conversation about the importance of self-care and community building before and after traumatic events

The series will end with an online culminating discussion Wednesday, Nov. 3 at noon online.

Also, running this month and related to the series is “Living with Dying: An Exhibition.” Curated by Diane Fine and heart2heart through Oct. 31, at BluSeed Studios, 24 Cedar St., Saranac Lake, this show is an effort to encourage conversations about our evolving relationships with mortality. “Living with Dying” features works by 27 artists, including Fine and fellow SUNY Plattsburgh art department faculty members Sue Lezon, Peter Russom and Norman Taber, as well as SUNY Plattsburgh alumni. For more information on the exhibition, visit https://www.heart2heartnc.com/.

To register for “The Ethics of Dealing with Trauma” and get links to online offerings, visit https://bit.ly/RegistrationTraumaSeries2021.

All ethics activities will follow college guidelines on masking and social distancing. This means that everyone who attends in-person events must wear a mask regardless of vaccination status. In addition, those who are not fully vaccinated must social distance, allowing six feet between themselves and others.

For more information about this semester’s events, contact Michelle Ouellette, colloquy coordinator, at [email protected]. For further information about the Institute for Ethics in Public Life, contact Dr. Jonathan Slater, director, at [email protected].