Counselor focuses on building relationships after tragedies

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — One month after Eddie Reyna started as counselor and social worker at Arrowhead Park Early College High School, tragedy struck — twice.

In November, the school lost a student and a teacher, setting in motion a time of grieving for the school community. Reyna had just started Oct. 27.

The ideas Reyna had about what the job could entail and what programs he could implement, shifted slightly with the news, as he now became more focused on self-care intervention.

Reyna said it became a "scary time" for him following the deaths — the student early in the month and the teacher before the Thanksgiving holiday — as he said he had several students came to him with anxiety, pressures and suicidal ideations.