United Resiliency Center seeks to help MSU heal from 2023 shooting

In the aftermath of the November 2021 Oxford High School shooting, the state of Michigan knew it needed to do something to help the community grieve and find a path forward.

Through a federal Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program grant, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services worked with Common Ground, a Bloomfield Hills-based crisis services agency founded in 1971, to establish the All for Oxford Resiliency Center, which provides counseling, support groups, art therapy and other mental health resources.

Jeff Kapuscinski, Common Ground’s chief external relations officer, said that with the success of the ongoing Oxford program, state leaders knew exactly where to turn in the wake of the February 2023 shooting at Michigan State University.

On Monday (March 4), Common Ground opened the United Resiliency Center at 1504 E. Grand River Ave. in East Lansing through that same federal grant program. Once the funds are allocated, Kapuscinski said it takes anywhere from six to nine months to open a new center.

“We need to make sure that we’re customized for the needs of that community,” he said. “We worked hard to make sure we had a good understanding of just what those needs might be by interacting and forming relationships with everyone, from the university to first responders.”

The East Lansing center offers “a variety of services and therapies that people can choose to take part in,” Kapuscinski said.

“Sometimes, people just want to talk. In Oxford, we have a group of students who come to do homework together. And that’s OK, too, because that’s them leaning on each other. So, we really offer any and all things that people need,” he said.

Common Ground’s reach extends throughout the state of Michigan, beyond the two resiliency centers. The organization serves about 165,000 residents per year with its free services, including victim advocacy, virtual behavioral health urgent care, mobile crisis intervention and recovery teams and more.

Though the federal funding “generally has a limitation of two to four years,” Kapuscinski said, “Common Ground has committed in both communities that we will be there as long as we’re needed and as long as the community wants us to be there. There are places like Sandy Hook, Connecticut, for example, that still maintain their center because it’s that important to the community. Others may go away after three or four years when the funding runs out.”

The United Resiliency Center’s walk-in hours (see box) are subject to change to meet the needs of the community.

“Our hours are flexible and based on what’s going on at any given time. For example, in Oxford, when the trials were going on, we wanted to make sure that we were available for folks,” Kapuscinski said.

That ability to adapt is an overarching goal for Common Ground.

“There really is no formula that we follow because every person is different, every crisis is different,” Kapuscinski said. “What we like to say is we try to meet people where they’re at, giving them the space and help they need in that particular moment.”