It has now been a week since the siege at Capitol Hill and it seems that everywhere we look we find out more information that simultaneously clears up and confuses as we go along. 

Capitol Hill is roughly 593 miles away (depending on the route you take) and seemingly a world away, the constant coverage of it and the readily accessible images and videos of the event at our fingertips makes it closer to home.

This can lead to an ever growing level of stress stacked on top of the returning to classes in an ongoing pandemic level of stress that seems to follow us like a second shadow. 

Which some of the Georgia Southern community members who answered the google form sent out last week voiced on how the unfolding events left them feeling. 

There were short responses that simply said “Emotionally drained.”, “Heartbreaking and shocked.” and those who went on to voice, like Renae Baker , “I was completely horrified! I couldn’t believe this was happening in our country.”

Along with those who didn’t outright state an emotion but whose statements seemed to portray a general consensus such as the student who replied with, “You mean the attempted coup? Yeah, that was pretty bad.”

As covered in this piece, the Georgia Southern Counseling center has expanded their resources and services in order to help students however they may need it. 

The GS Counseling center is encouraging students to reach out if they feel like they need help processing the events that occurred last Wednesday, as well as some additional readings from sources like The American Psychological Association with more information you can read through on your own.

For those who might be interested in seeing if they can help you can follow the link below to the FBI webpage where you can look through stills of the event to possibly identify individuals who seem to have gone from all over the country in order to see through this event.

Counseling Center: https://students.georgiasouthern.edu/counseling/

FBI: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/capitol-violence