Jennifer Bunn, LPC

07/03/2026

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Today, we had three cooling centers running in the library branches. Since this is a holiday weekend, with the libraries being closed, we have a plan in place to use our secondary sites for our cooling centers in Nottoway County through Sunday. On Monday, if needed, we will go back to the library branch locations for cooling centers during their business hours.

For Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the cooling centers will be available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Blackstone Police Station (side porch entrance) and Burkeville Fire Station (community room on east end). If inquiries are received, we have an “on-call” notification system for our cooling center staff that will let us know if someone needs to go to a cooling center, then we can deploy staff to a location. The centers are still immediately available during these hours.

If anyone is seeking a cooling center, please contact our dispatch center on the non-emergency line at 645-9044 and let them know what cooling center they will be visiting and how many people are going.

Remember to stay hydrated and stay cool. Know your limits in this heat and check on others in your area to see if they are OK in this heat wave.

Be safe,
Aubrey W. “Buddy” Hyde, Jr.
Emergency Services Coordinator
Cell: 434.294.8185
Office: 434.645.8696
E-mail: [email protected]

06/04/2026

It would be great to have something like this locally, but until then, check it out....!

The Lifelong Learning Institute in Chesterfield is for ages 50+. For $150/yr (scholarships are available) you get access to all sorts of classes and activities.

Check out the Calendar and see the vast amount of cool things they offer each day - academic classes, art, music, exercise, games, outings, etc.. Way too many to list here! This is a great place to engage in new and old areas of interest.

They also have a page.

Explore the Lifelong Learning Institute in Chesterfield for enriching adult learning experiences, workshops, and midlife education opportunities.

04/24/2026

The idea that “your nervous system heals by having enough safe, corrective experiences” is partly true, but incomplete.

Healing does rely on neuroplasticity, meaning the brain updates based on experience. When something happens that contradicts an old expectation of danger, the nervous system has the opportunity to relearn.
But that only works under certain conditions.

What actually leads to change?

The nervous system doesn’t heal just from having safe experiences—it heals from experiences that are noticed, felt, and integrated.

For a corrective experience to “stick,” three things usually need to happen:

1. You are regulated enough to take it in.
If you’re overwhelmed, shut down, or highly guarded, your brain may not register the experience as safe.

2. There is a mismatch with the old expectation (prediction error).
Something in the present moment has to violate the old pattern (e.g., “I expected rejection, but I wasn’t rejected”).

3. The experience gets processed, not bypassed.
Without processing, the nervous system often defaults back to the old pattern.

Where does EMDR fit into this?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing directly targets this process instead of waiting for life to provide enough corrective experiences.

EMDR works by:

Activating the original memory network (the stored fear, belief, body response).

Introducing bilateral stimulation while the brain processes the memory.

Allowing the brain to update the memory with new, adaptive information.

In other words, EMDR creates a corrective experience internally, not just externally.

Instead of needing dozens or hundreds of real-world situations to “prove” you’re safe, EMDR helps the brain:
Reprocess what happened.
Shift the meaning (“I’m not powerless anymore,” “I survived,” etc.).
Reduce the emotional and physiological charge.

After that, real-life safe experiences are more easily recognized and actually felt as safe, because the system isn’t filtering everything through the old threat.

04/10/2026

Nottoway County victims' resources.

12/02/2025

"The bison knows the quickest way out of the storm is to go through it."

11/27/2025

We can be grateful for what once was and grieve the loss of it. And that's okay.

11/22/2025

This is what trauma feels like.