{"id":23872,"date":"2021-11-05T17:50:24","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T21:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:23:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:23:55","slug":"project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

When fall semester started at Northern Essex, many students, staff and faculty were eager to get back to interacting in person; at least 25% of classes were meeting face-to-face, clubs and activities welcomed new members, and many employees returned to the office. But as life on campus started to resume, despite the excitement, there was also a sense of unease.<\/p>\n

\"Dr<\/a>

Dr. Stephen K. Valle addressed Parliament regarding prison reform and addiction issues in the United Kingdom.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere seems to be an expectation that things would be normal. We didn\u2019t take into account that we\u2019d lost connections, didn\u2019t have enough time to heal,\u201d says Gabriel Garcia, NECC\u2019s mental health clinician.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, the NECC Covid Response Team has launched a new initiative called the \u201cWe\u2019re Listening Project.\u201d The goal is to provide connections for anyone in the Northern Essex community grappling with the COVID crisis and the effects it has had on the mind and body.<\/p>\n

The first installment was a webinar with Dr. Stephen K Valle. Valle is president & CEO of Valle Management Associates, a human resource development firm based in Boston & Marco Island FL, and is a recognized leader and an international expert in the addiction, criminal justice, and mental health fields. He compared the mental health crisis brought on by the pandemic to what he saw immediately after the 9\/11 attacks. Valle met with American Airline flight crews and employees at Logan Airport that day, who had just learned of the attacks and the loss of their colleagues. \u201cThe uncertainty and fear of the unknown permeated every corner of that airport,\u201d he recalled. He says the approach to healing following the pandemic is similar. \u201cThe secret on how to best approach a crisis is in connection with your peers. Students to students, faculty to faculty, staff to staff. Your peers are how you get out of this pandemic. The goal is to create a culture of caring and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student Government president Iseline Mendoza shared how that culture has already made a difference in her life. She reached out to NECC counseling services when she was feeling \u201coff.\u201d Together, they worked to address her mental health needs. \u201cI feel safe to express when I\u2019m not feeling myself. That safety takes away the guilt. I know I have a team behind me. Sometimes all it takes for someone to notice, at NECC I really feel seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cWe\u2019re Listening Project\u201d continues to evolve and will likely include more workshops, focus groups and peer-to-peer discussions. \u201cAs we move forward, we\u2019ll tap into that natural creativity and sense of caring that is already so strong in the college community,\u201d explains Dr. Valle. In the meantime, he has provided a guide called \u201cThe 12 Step Plan to Managing Crisis Fatigue & the Stress of an Ongoing Pandemi<\/a>c\u201d which can be found on NECC\u2019s Coronavirus information webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Northern Essex also provides a wide range of free and confidential counseling services. Professional staff provide short-term individual counseling, as well as proactive prevention, education, and consultation across campus. They can assist during crisis situations and are a resource for referrals to both on-campus and community support services. Currently, they offer in-person and virtual sessions. Learn more by visiting the counseling services webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you would like to be involved in the planning and evolution of the \u201cWe\u2019re Listening Project,\u201d contact COVID Response Team members Marissa Elliot<\/a> or Rosanna Lara<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When fall semester started at Northern Essex, many students, staff and faculty were eager to get back to interacting in person; at least 25% of classes were meeting face-to-face, clubs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":25146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13,20],"tags":[177,178,418,644],"class_list":["post-23872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-and-staff","category-students","tag-covid","tag-covid-response-team","tag-mental-health","tag-were-listening-project"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nProject Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Project Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When fall semester started at Northern Essex, many students, staff and faculty were eager to get back to interacting in person; at least 25% of classes were meeting face-to-face, clubs […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-05T21:50:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T19:23:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/IMG_8800.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"223\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"462\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"review\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"review\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/\",\"name\":\"Project Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis - NECC News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/IMG_8800.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-05T21:50:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-13T19:23:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/9aa7f809aecda73fcfd75e3ba52a044f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/IMG_8800.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/IMG_8800.jpg\",\"width\":223,\"height\":462},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Project Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"NECC News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/9aa7f809aecda73fcfd75e3ba52a044f\",\"name\":\"review\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e574a5100d09afa7a07544531b1843473af5135d8e0f78bd847bdc9c9a7d451?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e574a5100d09afa7a07544531b1843473af5135d8e0f78bd847bdc9c9a7d451?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"review\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/review\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Project Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis - NECC News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Project Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis - NECC News","og_description":"When fall semester started at Northern Essex, many students, staff and faculty were eager to get back to interacting in person; at least 25% of classes were meeting face-to-face, clubs […]","og_url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/","og_site_name":"NECC News","article_published_time":"2021-11-05T21:50:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-13T19:23:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":223,"height":462,"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/IMG_8800.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"review","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"review","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/","name":"Project Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis - NECC News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/IMG_8800.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-05T21:50:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-13T19:23:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/9aa7f809aecda73fcfd75e3ba52a044f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/IMG_8800.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/IMG_8800.jpg","width":223,"height":462},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/11\/05\/project-aimed-at-healing-after-the-covid-crisis\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Project Aimed at Healing After the COVID Crisis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"NECC News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/9aa7f809aecda73fcfd75e3ba52a044f","name":"review","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e574a5100d09afa7a07544531b1843473af5135d8e0f78bd847bdc9c9a7d451?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e574a5100d09afa7a07544531b1843473af5135d8e0f78bd847bdc9c9a7d451?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"review"},"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/review\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23873,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872\/revisions\/23873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}