Supporting a Student in Distress
Staff and Academic Faculty are often in the best position to notice when a student is experiencing distress. The student’s behaviour may not indicate a need for immediate, urgent action, but it may be worrisome and indicating that the student could benefit from some assistance.
As you come across students who are demonstrating concerning behaviour, we are going to provide you with some information and a framework to guide your interaction.
There are 3 R’s that are important to consider in your contact with students that are demonstrating concerning behaviour:
Recognize (the signs)
Respond (to the information)
Refer (to the appropriate resource).
So the first step is to RECOGNIZE the signs.
Students who are experiencing challenges in their personal life will send signals that they are struggling. These signals can occur in different aspects of their lives and don’t require any special intervention, only that you are alert when they come to your attention.
Academically
Emotionally
Physically
Behaviour
RESPOND TO THE INFORMATION
If you are comfortable in speaking with the student about your concerns:
Some Do’s and Don’ts:
Do
Don’t
Assess the level of distress
DISTRESS _________________
Concerning, but not life threatening; no imminent safety risk
CRISIS____________________
Urgent, but not life threatening; no imminent safety risk
EMERGENCY_________________
Life threatening; imminent safety risk to self or others
REFER TO THE APPROPRIATE RESOURCE
A student may be reluctant to accept that they need help right away.
Sometimes they need a little time to think about it or in same cases wait until it reaches a crisis point.
If a student says “no” to a referral AND if it is NOT AN EMERGENCY:
Counselling Services offers training to staff/faculty based on this model and we would be happy to deliver it to your group. Please contact us if you would like to make arrangements for this training.
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