By TYLER ELLYSON
UNK Communications
SCOTTSBLUFF – Justin Ruzicka has built his career around helping young people navigate behavioral and mental health challenges – a calling shaped by his own experiences and a long-term commitment to supporting others.
The Gering native will earn an education specialist degree in counseling during Friday’s winter commencement ceremony. He already holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from UNK, and he’s currently working toward a fourth UNK degree – a master’s in PK-8 school principalship – with plans to finish next December.
Now living in Scottsbluff, Ruzicka works for Educational Service Unit 13 as the coordinator of Panhandle Beginnings Day Treatment, a therapeutic school serving students in third through eighth grades. The program blends academics with counseling and skill-building to support students with significant emotional and behavioral needs and help them successfully transition back to their home schools.
“We really focus on building relationships,” Ruzicka said. “We teach them the skills they need to be successful at school and at home.”
Ruzicka’s path into the field began early. As a teenager, he watched his mother work with a counselor during a difficult period in her life, an experience that first showed him the impact of mental health care. While he was an undergraduate student at UNK, he lost his father to suicide. Later, while finishing graduate school, he lost his mother the same way.
“For many years, people just didn’t talk about this stuff,” he said. “They didn’t deal with it. They were told to just shove it in and move on, and we’ve seen that by doing that it just causes more and more problems.”
Those experiences strengthened his desire to work with children facing behavioral and emotional challenges.
“I’ve always wanted to be able to help people,” Ruzicka said. “I like to help kids find the true them.”
Now in his fifth year with ESU 13, Ruzicka oversees the day-to-day operations at Panhandle Beginnings while continuing to provide therapy and collaborate with school districts across the region. For him, the most meaningful moments come after students return to their schools.
“The best part to me is the stories I hear from parents and school districts of a student being successful when they return,” he said. “Not feeling like an outsider.”
A nontraditional student who didn’t begin college until age 21, Ruzicka chose UNK while dating his future wife, Chelsey, who was already a student here.
“I just decided to take that leap, and I fell in love with the school,” he said. “I loved the culture aspect of it.”
That sense of connection kept him coming back.
“They do a great job of building relationships with their students,” Ruzicka said. “The professors take the time to get to know their students, and that makes a big difference. It’s a very welcoming environment.”
A third grade teacher in Scottsbluff, Chelsey holds a bachelor’s degree in education and master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from UNK, and she’s currently working on an endorsement in special education/behavior intervention specialist.
Together, the couple are raising two young children in the Nebraska Panhandle, close to family and the community they grew up in.
“This is a low-income area that we work in,” Ruzicka said. “It’s really important to us to serve the kids in our community.”
As he looks ahead, Ruzicka sees his continued education as a way to expand his impact in a field facing growing demand.
“It’s a needed field,” he said. “We need to be proactive, rather than reactive, to ensure that children facing emotional and behavioral challenges are seen, supported and given the tools to succeed.”