by Molly Hackett
Special to The Leaven
LAWRENCE — As August begins, students embark on a new school year, moving into the dorms on Daisy Hill at The University of Kansas and into housing around the Lawrence community. When the temperatures spike, so can the many emotions that students face as that new school year begins.
The St. Lawrence Center at KU has worked to change the way that students nurture their spiritual, mental and emotional health by bringing in Lizzy Hollwedel, a licensed professional counselor and owner of Lux Counseling LLC. Hollwedel is a practicing Catholic in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and serves clients at both Corporate Woods in Overland Park and at the St. Lawrence Center. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Benedictine College in Atchison and her master’s degree from Emporia State University.
Hollwedel became interested in helping people after taking a gap year following high school and serving for six months at an orphanage in Zambia, Africa. She saw firsthand how PTSD, anxiety and trauma impacted the lives of the children at the orphanage and used that as her catalyst in becoming a therapist.
“I saw these sweet children’s intense anxiety, sadness, intrusive thoughts, fear, nightmares and many other difficult symptoms,” Hollwedel said. “I was their friend and mentor for six months but knew that I had not done enough. Upon returning to the U.S., I was determined to learn the skills to help people heal from mental health struggles like they had, such as PTSD and anxiety.”
Over the course of the last year, she has been able to serve 50 KU students. This partnership has been successful due to the trusting environment that St. Lawrence offers students.
“Lizzy realizes the importance of human formation. And for a person to be healthy, they need to be able to explore thoughts, feelings and desires in harmony to relate well to God and others,” said Father Mitchel Zimmerman, director of the St. Lawrence Center.
“It is critical that we offer what we can for their health, and our partnership with a counselor is a great step in that direction,” he added. “Lizzy knows that only in respecting the whole person — body and spirit — can one arrive at the fullness of life.”
While many students are currently in spiritual mentorship with staff members at the St. Lawrence Center, counseling has been able to tend to the emotional and mental health that spiritual direction doesn’t always cover.
Stacy Cretors, the discernment director at the St. Lawrence Center, is currently enrolled and studying to become a certified spiritual director through Divine Mercy University in Sterling, Virginia. Her training and time spent as a spiritual mentor has been enlightening in seeing how these offerings are different, but work in harmony.
“Spiritual direction isn’t going to fix all of our problems,” Cretors said. “The goal is to help us develop our relationship with God, but if there are things getting in the way of that happening, sometimes a spiritual director can invite a student to look at counseling as an option to help them get rid of or eliminate the things in their lives that spiritual direction alone can’t do.”
Some clients see Hollwedel for as little as one session to learn strategies and implement them. Others see her for a couple of months and still others schedule monthly check-ins for years. Regardless of frequency, therapy can offer a safe place to work through what is taking away peace and joy.
Regardless of what a client’s care plan might look like, Hollwedel believes that “God wants us to take care of ourselves, and therapy is one of the many ways that we can do that.”
Hollwedel’s website can be found at: www.luxcounselingllc.com.
