United Resiliency Center set to open in East Lansing
EAST LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - A new resiliency center will open its doors next week just off of Michigan State University's campus in East Lansing.
"We have a multipurpose room. It's the big room and lots of group therapy that happens in there," said Jeff Kapuscinski, who serves as the chief external relations officer for Common Ground. "We offer a wide variety of different therapies and different resources for folks."
The United Resiliency Center, which sits just off campus on the east side, is the second in the state. The first serves the Oxford community and was put together in the months after the November 2021 mass shooting. Both centers aim to bring mental resources to the wider community.
"We do things like art therapy, for example, group talk therapy," Kapuscinski said. "We have a resiliency dog or a therapy dog. Her name is Wiley. We have offices for our victim navigator. They are people who actually sit down and meet with people who come in. We treat people as individuals, and we try to meet them where they are."
Common Ground, the organization behind the United Resiliency Center, receives its funding for the center through a federal anti-terrorism grant. The center is set to open on Monday, March 4, and will be staffed full-time with two staffers, with two more coming on board after the opening, along with additional support staff.
"A big piece of this that many people don't understand is that simply telling your story to someone who is willing and able to take the time and listen to it in a non-judgmental way. Someone who really understands mass violence response, just that, telling your story can be incredibly healing," said Janet Sarkos, the chief of crisis operations for Common Ground.
