Meet the Staff

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.
 

Kate joined Wellness Services at Lawrence University in 2017. She received a master’s degree in Counseling from The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Kate believes change happens in the context of collaborative relationships along with access to resources and information. She works with students to help them better understand how their patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving have developed within the individual, familial, and systemic contexts of each student’s lived experiences. She strives to create a trusting environment for students to explore, acknowledge, and adapt these patterns as well as develop internal and external resources for managing distress and maintaining wellness.

Kate received a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Michigan State University. In her free time she enjoys writing, kayaking, playing volleyball, and spending time with family and friends. She was an expatriate in China and South Africa and speaks Mandarin Chinese.

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.

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.