Meet the Staff

Rich joined Lawrence University in the Fall of 2016 as the Associate Dean of Students for Health and Wellness.  Prior to joining the team at Wellness Services, he worked for 11 years at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater as the Executive Director for University Health and Counseling Services.  The focus of his work has been on creating an environment of wellness and self-care for university community members.  He has also focused on creating seamlessly integrated healthcare helping mental health and medical services providers to work together to empower students to thrive.
Rich earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from the Minnesota School of Professional Psychology and completed his pre-doctoral internship at the University of Maine.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.
When working with students, Rich uses an integrative approach with emphasis on cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal theories.  Although he is a generalist, he enjoys working with students who struggle with anxiety, depression, interpersonal issues, multicultural issues, sports performance and men’s issues in mental health.
He enjoys spending time with his family, being involved with basketball and being outdoors.  He also hopes to train his dog to become a therapy dog. 

Erin Buenzli leads the wellness and recreation initiatives on campus for students and employees. She offers wellness, education and prevention programing, teaches a wellness class, is an advisor to wellness student organizations and coordinates the recreation and fitness programs on campus. She studied Health promotion and athletic training at the University of Stevens Point and completed a Master’s Degree in Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. She previously served as an assistant athletic trainer and ran the employee wellness program at Grinnell College and was the head athletic trainer at Lawrence for 12 years before becoming the Director of Wellness and Recreation in 2011. Erin helped the campus win the Active Minds Healthy campus award with her collaborative and holistic approach to campus wellness and received the NCAA Choices Grant in 2017.
 

Dedicated to de-stigmatizing mental illness and instilling hope in clients that can encourage positive life changes and promote healing. Utilizing an eclectic, integrative approach but also believes that a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are closely interconnected and frequently incorporates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in treatment. Treating an array of mental health including but not limited to: depression, anxiety, grief, interpersonal difficulties, stress, and self-esteem concerns.

Sara is a Wisconsin Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Sara has had many steps in her career, creating a winding path that has lead to love work with college students and clinical mental health. Sara joins Lawrence in October, 2020. Past work experiences have included the Waupaca County Department of Health and Human Services (2002-2004), Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Fox Valley Child Advocacy Center (2004-2012), Winnebago Mental Health Institute (2012-2016), and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Counseling Center (2016-2020). Sara honors each person who uses her services by centering on each student’s needs, goals, and wellness. Sara uses an approach that focuses on the goals a student wants to reach as well as managing daily difficulty that comes with many of our past and present circumstances. Sara encourages each student to draw on their strengths to address their challenges, and will often find strengths that students take for granted within themselves. Sara is familiar and comfortable with LGBTQ+ students. Sara is a generalist in her professional practice, and has been trained to work with people from a variety of backgrounds and with many concerns, including anxiety and depression, trauma, identity questioning and challenges, and interpersonal/ social relationships. Sara uses a variety of approaches with students based in self compassion, mindfulness, and strengths- grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy, with a trauma informed perspective to move each student forward to feeling good, building resilience, and having skills to address challenges now and in the future.