Scott Johnson, associate director of the Office of Recovery and Support, said the meetings are not for everybody.

"We don't want people to feel obligated to come," Johnson said. "It's not about loyalty or how 'good a friend' you are. Sometimes it is the people who were the closest to a certain victim that still feel too raw. It is not for everybody."

The get-togethers began on Feb. 4 and will run through March 20. Each meeting is centered on one victim, and provides an opportunity for friends to talk about how they knew the individual.

"The purpose of these meetings is not a memorial of what happened," Johnson said. "This is for those who had a personal connection to a certain person. The purpose is for people who knew the victims, and to help them connect with others who knew that victim as well."

Anna Beth Benningfield, special assistant to the Provost, said that although family members are welcome to attend, the meetings are mainly for friends.

"We hold them specifically on nights that we think are good for students, which are mainly weeknights," Benningfield said. "This is to provide a safe space for students and faculty who may not have a lot of people they can talk to about that person. At the meetings, people usually start to tell stories about how they met the person, stories of strange experiences that they shared, or funny stories of things that happened when they were together."

Marilyn Hutchins, special assistant to the Office of Recovery and Support, said the meetings are very emotional.

"There is a lot of laughter and a lot of tears," Hutchins said. "It's very healthy and very healing."

The Office of Recovery and Support was created as a direct response to the events of April 16. It runs on a grant from the U.S. Department of Education The office was created directly by the President, and was not established until July.

Johnson stressed that with events like those this past April, the healing process takes a long time, often many years. He said that the office plans to be here for many years, but does not know exactly how long they will be operating.

"Part of our job is to make sure people who need various kinds of help are able to get it," Benningfield said. "We are in close contact with referral services if anyone needs one of us to come speak to a group, etc."

Johnson, Benningfield, and Hutchins are all licensed therapists. All three elaborated that there is a larger group of people who need help than just those who are immediate family members to the victims, or those who were directly injured.

"There is the center circle of those people who were victimized directly, the families of those who were killed, or the injured," Benningfield said. "Then there is a group beyond that, and one beyond that. It's the ripple effect of what happened. It affects everybody."

All meetings are held in the Suffolk Room in Squires Student Center. Friends of the victims who wish to attend a meeting about their loved one can learn the dates of the get-togethers by visiting the Office of Recovery and Support homepage at http://www.recovery.vt.edu.