In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, U.S. law enforcement has had to push harder than ever to understand the mental issues involved in crisis situations, from post-traumatic stress to the motives behind terrorism.

To do that, officials turn to professionals and academics with experience in psychology and human behavior – people like Flagler College Assistant Professor Tina Jaeckle, who also teaches and conducts research at the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit.

Some might assume Jaeckle is a sort of criminal profiler, much like the character Clarisse in Silence of the Lambs.

In fact, Jaeckle has been exposed to a variety of violent crime cases and crisis situations during her years of professional and volunteer work. She has assisted with hostage negotiations and delivered “emotional first aid” at the scenes of murders, hurricanes and fatal accidents.

But she doesn’t tote a gun or carry a badge. Armed with expert knowledge and experience in criminology, sociology, dispute resolution and crisis counseling, Jaeckle serves the FBI and other law enforcement agencies as a resource for research and training.

“I’ve become kind of a crisis expert,” Jaeckle said. “I present to top-level police administrators from throughout the world on disaster and crisis implications, on managing those from a law-enforcement aspect … I can’t be an agent because I have a family, but I’ve always dreamed of working with them [the FBI] on some level.”

Greg Vecchi, Ph.D., is a supervisory special agent at the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. He instructs at the BSU’s National Academy, a program that brings together “the cream of the crop” from law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.

Vecchi said BSU researchers act as a “think tank” for cutting-edge law enforcement issues. As a consultant to the BSU, Jaeckle gets to work with those researchers and present to classes.

According to Vecchi, Jaeckle’s broad range of experience and academic research isn’t common – and her ability to discuss mental health issues with law enforcement officials is especially rare.

“Mental health with law enforcement is still a taboo subject,” Vecchi said. “They still don’t like to talk about it.

“But she can talk with them. They can know that it’s OK to feel bad, that you’re going to have moments of feeling overwhelmed … so when it happens to them, they’ll know how to deal with it.”

Vecchi said law enforcement is devoting more attention to mental health issues than ever because of the emotional fallout from recent disasters. When the FBI helped respond to the Lexington, Ky., plane crash last August, he said, “there were some people that still had a lot of cumulative stuff leftover from 9-11.”

Agents who had pulled dead bodies from the Pentagon or the Flight 93 plane crash in Shanksville, Penn., were reeling all over again as they worked at the Lexington site.

“It was never addressed from the mental health side,” Vecchi said. “You find there are a lot of complicated issues … [Jaeckle's crisis response work] is critical because pretty much all these big disasters are going to require everyone to work together: state, local, national – and not just police, but firefighters, Red Cross, shelters, churches.”

The type of person who people-watches in airports, Jaeckle said her interest in human behavior comes from a fascination with “the interplay between personal choice and societal factors.”

She is currently working toward a Ph.D. in conflict analysis and resolution. The term helps to describe her broad range of efforts, which include clinical social work, family/dependency mediation and mental health training for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Department.

“I believe strongly in conflict resolution,” Jaeckle said. “We need to approach conflict from a deeper understanding of what causes it – needs, identity issues, etc. – because a lot of what we look at on an international scale, [such as] what’s going on in Iraq, is based in needs and identities.”

At Flagler, Jaeckle teaches courses with titles like “Sociology of Evil” and “Criminal Profiling.” Her students learn through stories from her experiences at crime and disaster scenes, and some work with professionals like Larry Ruby, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal profiler.

Ruby has kept in touch with Jaeckle since she came to his office as a graduate school intern. He said they analyzed unsolved homicide cases together, sharing criminal justice and mental health perspectives on possible suspects and witnesses. Ruby has worked in law enforcement for 34 years.

“She broadened the way I look at things,” Ruby said. “All that [psychological] information is information that is valuable – especially when we’re dealing with new cases, especially when someone has mental health problems.”

Ruby added that people in his line of work are increasingly working with “the thinkers as opposed to the walking beat cops.” He said there is a need to better understand the psychological patterns and behavior behind violent crime and terrorism.

Jaeckle’s crisis work can be stressful. She finds comfort in her husband and two children, but some incidents still disturb her. Last year, she experienced the “most personally and professionally challenging crisis response” of her 18 years in the field: a family murder-suicide. The father brutally killed the mother, then the daughter, then himself. Jaeckle tried to educate and calm more than 20 traumatized people who lived or worked at the upscale condominium where the murders took place.

“In order to effectively work in the crisis intervention field, it requires a solid understanding of appropriate boundaries with those you assist,” Jaeckle said. “However, on some level, I am always touched by the stories and pain.”

Jaeckle continues her work with a purpose. For her, understanding human conflict – and sharing that understanding – is the most effective way to create positive change.

“Take the Jessica Lunsford case,” Jaeckle said. “What was it that made him [John Evander Couey] decide to kill this girl?

“When we as sociologists and criminologists can begin to understand that better, then perhaps we can determine the cues beforehand in order to prevent it.”

That’s what Chris Barnwell learned last summer when he became the first Flagler College player to make the “big show.” Barnwell was unexpectedly called up from the Class AAA Nashville Sounds to play for the team’s parent club, the Milwaukee`Brewers.

“It was the only time I ever forgot how to walk,” Barnwell said about the game. “You could feel the people, that you were being looked at … I thought I would just go and watch and be the emergency guy, but I ended up getting in the game the first night I was there.”

Barnwell didn’t get any hits that “extremely nervous” first time at-bat, but he did the next day. He swung a base hit that teammate Rickie Weeks followed with a home run, bringing Milwaukee a slim 4-3 victory.

“That moment wasn’t anything spectacular,” Barnwell said. “The actual moment on the field was just kind of heart-racing.

“After the fact was different. They give you about 10 or 20 minutes after the game, and then the media comes in … it was really weird because it was microphones basically in your mouth and cameras all over. I just tried not to stumble over my words and say ‘um’ 50 times.”

Success in baseball is nothing new to Barnwell, who set several records during his four-year career with the Saints. Flagler retired his old jersey at a game ceremony this February.

“I was really honored,” he said. “But I’m kind of a team guy, so I felt weird up there [by myself.]”

Barnwell played in the majors for about a month as a temporary replacement. He has played several seasons in the minors, and he plans to return to Nashville this season. Many minor league players never permanently rise in the ranks, but Barnwell’s consistent and unselfish determination has gained some attention.

“Each year, he has gotten better,” Brewers first base coach Dave Nelson told MLB.com. “Scouts told me the same thing I’m sure they’ve told him, ‘You’ll never play in the big leagues.’ Well, I played 11 years in the big leagues.”

Flagler baseball coach Dave Barnett said Barnwell’s stint in the majors is inspiring.

“It’s a great statement for kids willing to commit themselves and work hard,” Barnett said. “That shows you anything can happen.” Barnwell said he needs to keep improving his game, but he hopes to have some fun in the upcoming season.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself last year,” he said, noting he didn’t do as well during his time in the majors as he would have liked. “The mixture of nerves and not playing every single day made it kind of tough.

“I think deep down, I always thought it [making it to the majors] was a dream … if you don’t believe you’re going to get there, you’re going to fail.”

Barnwell said he’s wanted to play in the majors since he first started playing baseball at age 5. After four or five years in the minors, he added, “it’s hard to imagine yourself getting up there.”

Now, with a more relaxed approach, does Barnwell still see a future for himself in the big leagues?

“Of course,” he said, “or I wouldn’t be doing it.”

While visiting home, she took dozens of photographs capturing life in Bolivia and the fascinating people who live in the South American country.

“When I left [college] for the summer, I knew I was going to take pictures,” Huls said. “I just started thinking black and white. There’s so much color in Bolivia, but to enhance things like poverty and the innocence of children down there, black and white is really powerful.”

Huls, a communication major, entered seven photos into Photographer’s Forum Best of College Photography competition. Several of those photos were taken in Bolivia and others she took on a trip to Holland.

“I took my camera with me all the time, knowing there was something that was going to catch my eye,” she said.

In January, Huls learned one of her photos was picked as a finalist.

“When I got the letter I wanted to jump around,” she said.

“To enhance things like poverty and the innocence of children… black and white is very powerful.”

Her photograph of a young girl from Potosí will be published in the Photographer’s Forum issue Best of College Photography Annual 2007, along with all the other finalists’ submissions. It is a hardbound publication and is distributed to college libraries and instructors of photography, art and graphic design.

Huls has been taking photos since high school and took photojournalism at Flagler last year. She is also one of the photo editors of the campus newspaper, The Gargoyle.

“I love photographs because it freezes a moment that never repeats itself,” Huls said.

He arrived last October and has been earning transferable credits through American Military University online courses. “There are a lot of college students who are soldiers,” Fast said.

“In fact, I yell at my battle buddies for not taking online courses while they are here.”

Ultimately, Fast wants to pursue law enforcement on a federal level. He said his military experience could help him in a variety of future career paths.

But it’s not easy. He works 12-hour shifts, six days a week at Baghdad Central Facility, a military prison that houses high value targets.

“I work in what can literally be considered the smallest confined place with the deadliest people on Earth,” Fast said. “I am learning way too much from my time here.”

His main job is to organize the evidence files of prison detainees for the Pentagon, the FBI and the CIA. It’s boring, Fast said, but he gets constant Internet access. He copes with the stress and danger of his post – mortar explosions near the compound are commonplace – by keeping in touch with family and friends.

Fast now expects he will be “boots off ground” and back attending classes at Flagler this fall. He plans to graduate with a degree in psychology in 2008.

He loves the competition, the cars, the challenge of keeping calm and cool at 180 miles per hour. But most of all, Lagasse loves to win. That’s exactly what he plans to do in this racing season.

“I made my goal simple,” he said. “To go to the top, to win the Nextel Cup championships. It’s unpredictable, but it’s attainable.”

Race fans might start noticing Lagasse more as the alum continues running for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, one of the top teams in American racing. They plan to race Lagasse in a number of ARCA and NASCAR Busch Series races throughout the year.

Lagasse says he’s confident his hard work will soon start paying off. He’s already won a race this season — an ARCA Re/Max Series held April 27 in Kansas — and he came in fourth at the Buckle Up Kentucky 150 in May, and fifth place in the ARCA 200 at Daytona International Speedway in February.

Before the Daytona race, Flagler held a pep rally on campus for Lagasse where he announced he would use race winnings to set up a scholarship at the college.

To get a taste of the real racing experience, Flagler Magazine asked Lagasse a few questions about training, sweating, winning and losing:

FM: WHAT’S IT LIKE INSIDE A CAR MOVING AT 180 MILES PER HOUR?
LAGASSE: The thing a lot of people underestimate is how well conditioned a lot of drivers are for this particular sport. There are a lot of drivers that couldn’t run up and down a basketball court twice, but I could promise you a basketball player couldn’t go around this lap twice.

Your neck gets tired. There’s body fatigue from vibration and g-forces [acting on the body.] It gets to be 120 degrees. They get really hot inside – hot enough that you’ll occasionally burn a part of your body if you lose a piece of heat material.

FM: HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A RACE?
LAGASSE: It’s really no different than any athlete’s training. There’s a lot of physical training. That’s really kind of the easiest part. Ganassi has a gym. So I work out four or five days a week.

Beyond that, I’ve got go-carts, and I try to run as often as possible for what I call “eye strength.” It’s really easy when things start going fast for your eyes and your mind to get behind.

Everything feels really fast [on the race track]. We’re so close and there are so many situations you have to be aware of and be prepared for. And obviously, you can’t run 180 miles down the interstate every day [to practice].

FM: WHAT IS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU’RE BEHIND THE WHEEL?
LAGASSE: When you climb in the seat, the rest of the worlddisappears. It’s strange. I don’t know if it’s me or if some other drivers [feel that, too]. As soon as you climb in the car, you just completely forget about everything because it takes that much.

At the same time, you’re sizing up everyone else …

You’re in the car for a minimum of two hours and sometimes three and four hours, so it’s hard to stay focused. You hope you’re prepared for it, but it plain out comes down to your mental willpower.

FM: HOW DO YOU STAY FOCUSED IN A RACE THAT LONG?
LAGASSE: I’m actually pretty relaxed. I’m comfortable in there because that’s where I want to be.

I’m a very competitive person, probably more so with myself than anything. And it’s the type of sport where you just constantly, constantly have to push yourself mentally to keep going.

FM: WHY PUT YOURSELF THROUGH ALL THAT STRESS AND FATIGUE? IS IT WORTH IT?
LAGASSE: It’s a very humbling sport, but it is also very rewarding. A lot of people refer to it as a rollercoaster ride of emotions because … you go from winning to wrecking.

The first time I ever won a big race was actually the first one I ever ran. That’s unheard of in this sport. All I can tell you is afterward, I couldn’t even stop the car because my legs were shaking so bad.

You name an emotion, and I’m sure I’ve had it after a race — the highest highs and the lowest lows. That’s part of the struggle: to flatten those curves out.

Mike Fretto’s story begins with a trip to New Orleans in 2005.

He went to tour areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and came away with an idea that spawned a unique non-profit that uses T-shirts to change lives. Now his story includes a recent trip to the Oscars to promote the idea (see sidebar).

The 2004 graduate saw with his own eyes the vast devastation from Katrina: homes destroyed, neighborhoods uprooted, lives changed. But what really moved him were the individuals who were affected, the people whose lives were changed.

While working with Flagler’s Intervarsity Club gutting houses in the hardest hit areas, Fretto discovered helping one person at a time felt much more tangible than trying to fight a more abstract cause. Stripping moldy drywall may have been a small act in the grand scheme, but it helped – one family at a time. And that became the driving principle of Rosa Loves.

The concept is simple. Rosa Loves is about helping people, one story at a time, but in a unique way – by designing and selling trendy T-shirts.

Formed in 2006 by Fretto, a graphic design major, and friend Chris Lewis, a software developer, Rosa Loves seeks to provide financial support to those in need by creating and selling limitededition T-shirts. Their goal is to offer a “new perspective of how clothing can serve a purpose other than outfitting.”

To do this, each shirt is designed for a particular story and only enough are made to cover a particular need. But Fretto is quick to point out that Rosa Loves is less about charity and more about awareness, faces and names. That’s why the stories are printed on the inside of the shirt, next to the heart.

Most of those stories are brought to Rosa Loves by friends of Fretto, Lewis, and business partners Johnpaul McLean and Erin Pate Lewis (‘04). Flagler alumni Jeremy Dean (‘02), Russell Brownley (‘03) and Ty Williams (‘07) have also contributed stories and designs to Rosa Loves, along with St. Augustine residents like Kelly Westropp and Eric Hires.

“The one thing I really like about our stories is that they’re connected with friends,” Fretto said.

Those stories have included a community leader in West Augustine who was in need of a new walker; a fisherman in Indonesia who, surprisingly, did not own a fishing boat; a family who lost their historic West Augustine home to a devastating fire; and an organization that goes beyond scholarships to help poor students in rural Mexico attend college.

Like many of the Rosa Loves stories, one of their more recent came from a friend: Brownley, while filming a documentary in South Africa for www.walkingonwater.com. The focus of Rosa’s “love” in this case is a group of young surfers from Mossel Bay, who Brownley says are like “fish in the water.”

“The irony here is that these kids are a product of South Africa, a country that has such a turbulent past,” Brownley said. “Many of them come from broken homes, sometimes with no mother or father, from communities that have been ravaged by racism, AIDS and drugs. But today, they were surfers, and for an instant, all that faded away.”

For this group, surfing is an escape – a way to forget about their problems and erase the race barrier.

“These people are living a life we, as upper-middle class, don’t understand,” Fretto said. “They’re locked in. Surfing is their way out.”

The goal of this story, and the corresponding T-shirt, is to help this group of young South Africans pay for surfboards, wet suits and other supplies.

Fretto says he hopes to see the idea grow beyond the stories they have already told.

“We have so many goals,” Fretto said. “We’re really just trying to use our talents and our gifts to do something tangible rather than dumping our abilities into something that is just going to fizzle out in the long run. T-shirts are just the beginning.” They hope to use the Internet to get more people involved with Rosa Loves by submitting their own ideas and creating similar projects.

“I’m not a business man, but I see a lot of changes in the business world,” Fretto said. “I really think people are starting to realize that there’s a lot of wealth, especially in this country and there’s a lot of ways to build and structure a business so it is mindful and productive to not only self profit, but really help the community the business is in, help the world and help the environment. We’re finding that out as we go.

“It’s tough, because we’re just doing this out of my living room,” he said. But he is quick to credit his friends and fellow Rosa Loves creators.

From an idea that began on a street in New Orleans in the wake of extreme tragedy, to a T-shirt company with a meaningful purpose, Fretto’s story is one of action.

“You can really make a huge difference for somebody, one-onone,” Fretto said. “We can do small things, even if it’s just listening to someone. I think that’s the whole idea behind Rosa Loves. Such a small thing is making a big difference, and everybody has a story.”