Techniques and Approaches to Advising Students in DistressNACADA Region 4 Conference, March 2016Anna Vest and Jamie Chmiel, University of South Florida

Learning Objectives Agenda• Identify potential causes and signs of distress

• Reframe students’ stressful situations as new perspectives

• Apply a strength-based approach to assist students with capitalizing on strengths to overcome obstacles

• Normalize experiences to help students regain sense of competence and belonging

Disclaimer: Always reference your institution’s policy for referring students in distress or crisis.

• University students experience higher levels of distress in comparison to general population (Stallman, 2010).

• A 2010 American College Health Association survey revealed that 45% of students reported feeling hopeless and 30% reported feeling depressed to the point that it was difficult to function (Eiser, 2011).

Potential Causes for Distress

Image Credit: Robert Adrian Hillman, ShutterstockAdapted from UNSW Australia CAPS: http://www.counselling.unsw.edu.au/Staff/RecognisingandManagingDistress/CommonCausesofDistress.aspxc

ENVIRONMENTALacademic pressurescultural pressures

financial issues

FAMILIALfamily

breakupdivorce

EVENTSsexual/physical abusetraumatic experience

loss

HEALTHchronic illnessserious injury

disorders

INTERPERSONALrelationship issues

adjustment to collegeloneliness

Identifying Signs of Distress

Know the 5 Signs

Personality

Changed?Agitated?

Withdrawn?Poor

Hygiene?

Hopeless?

Adapted from University of New Hampshire, http://www.unh.edu/unhtales/lets-get-rid-of-the-stigma-suicide-awareness/

For the remainder of the presentation, imagine yourself in the place of the professor working with a student exhibiting signs of distress in the following scenario.

The following scenario is based on true events:

UCC Minds: Identifying and Responding to Distressed and at Risk Students

Techniques and Approaches

• Reframing Technique• Strength-Based Advising Approach• Normalizing Technique

Start with a foundation of a personalized advising relationship.Establish trust with a student before applying these techniques.

“Reframing involves helping people to perceive their difficulties, and the context in which they take

place, in a different way.”

(The art of reframing, 2001) Image credit: istock

Changing the frame in which the student views a stressful situation can help change how the student feels and thinks about the situation.

When delivering the reframing technique:

Help the student be “receptive” to the new frame.

3

The new frame must be more emotionally compelling.

2

Do not argue with the student about the situation at hand.

1

(Tyrell)

Shift student’s frame of reference

• Negative Feeling to Positive• Victimized to Empowered • Passive to Active• Liability to Asset• Future to Past• Past to Future • Others to Self

(McNamara, 2012)

Delivering an emotionally compelling reframe:A businessman/landlord who wants to stop cigarette smoking but has failed numerous times was given the following analogy:

“Imagine a tenant whom you had to pay to live in your house. Imagine that you paid them to be there while they soiled your furniture, wrecked your carpets, damaged the walls and roof… Would you call that a good deal for you?” (Tyrell)

Now it’s your turn!Events/Situation column: current stressful event in your life

Present Frame column: your current frame of reference of the event

Reframe column: a reframe to adopt when or if event occurs again in the future

The strength-based approach:

• is an ongoing process

• typically used proactively

• can be used as an intervention

Realizing that you’ve had all you needed all along.

3 Consistent characteristics of high achievers:

Have learned to develop strenghts and apply them to challenging situations.

Focus on developing their strengths while managing weaknesses.

Spend most of their time in their areas of strength, not weakness.

(Schreiner & Anderson, 2005)

Benfits of strength-based interventions include:

Increased levels of “state” Image Credit: Raising Generations Today, 2013

Improved subjective Image Credit: Natural Health News, 2016

Is increasedImage Credit: Forbes, 2013 (Hodges & Clifton, 2004)

When delivering the reframing technique:

Increase awareness of strengths applicable to situation.

3

Ask open-ended questions to determine strengths.

2

Actively listen to student needs.1

(Schreiner & Anderson, 2004)

The normalizing technique:Used when students interpret common challenges through lens of belonging or identity.

Includes minority students, women in STEM fields, international students, first-year students, first-generation students.

(Cohen & Garcia, 2008)

Benfits of normalizing interventions include:

Improved sense of fit on campus (Walton & Cohen, 2011)

Students view their adversities as more manageable (Walton et al., 2015)

Can lessen inequalities in achievement and health for marginalized groups (Walton & Cohen, 2011)

DO

• Determine whether student is struggling with a common problem

• Be empathetic

• Assure student experience is common and temporary

DON’T

• Deny stereotypes exist

• Downplay student’s experience/emotions

• Reassure student that they belong when the student is not struggling with such issues.

(Walton & Cohen, 2011)

Use personal experiences:“When I was an undergraduate, I also had trouble with…”

Use observations:“I have had many students tell me very similar stories.”Use surveys:“Look at this survey showing that the majority of students in their first year are experiencing the same issues.”

In groups, read the scenario below and discuss the techniques you can apply in this situation:

“Anika”, an international student, comes to your office and is visibly upset. She begins to cry and tells you that she has been having difficulty making friends and she misses her family. She is also struggling with her academics and feels that her courses are too difficult. Anika tells you that she thinks she made a mistake enrolling at this university because she was a practicing doctor in her country for 2 years before coming to the U.S.

Summary

1. Refer to your institution’s policy and procedures for helping and referring students in distress/crisis.

2. Common causes for distress include: social, academic, personal pressures, and culture shock.

3. Identify signs of distress by observing: changes in students’ personal hygiene, disruptive behavior, tearfulness, drop in academic performance, anxiety and panic, disjointed thoughts, self harm.

1. Use reframing to help students: change how they feel and think about their current situation and to shift focus on identifying solutions.

2. Try the strength-based approach to help students identify the tools they already possess to solve their challenges.

3. Normalize a student’s experience when they are attributing their challenges to their sense of belonging or identity.

References

Cohen, G. L., & Garcia, J. (2008). Identity, belonging, and achievement: A model, interventions, implications. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 365-369. doi:10.1111/j.1467- 8721.2008.00607.x

C McNamara. (2012, February 2). Basic guidelines to reframing--to seeing things differently. Coaching and Action Learning Blog [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/blogs/personal-and-professional-coaching/2012/02/02/basic-guidelines-to-reframing-to-seeing-things-differently/

Eiser, A. (2011). The crisis on campus. American Psychology Association 42(8), 18. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/09/crisis-campus.aspx

Helping students in distress--A faculty & staff guide for assisting students in need. (2010). University of South Florida. Retrieved from http://www.usf.edu/student-affairs/resources-two/faculty.aspx

Hodges, T. D. & Clifton, D. O. (2004). Strengths-based development in practice, in Positive Psychology in Practice (eds. P. A. Linley and S. Joseph), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, US. doi: 10.1002/9780470939338.ch16

Identifying students in distress. Boston University Health Services. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/shs/behavioral/helpinfo/identifying-distress/

M Tyrell. 3 Reframing techniques to improve your success rate and why effective reframe aren’t just ‘cognitive reframes.’ Uncommon Practitioners Blog. Retrieved from http://www.unk.com/blog/3-things-i-always-do-when-reframing/

Mayo Clinic Staff. Anxiety: Symptoms and causes. Mayoclinic.org. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/dxc-20168124 - 48k

Nater, M. U. (2013). Escape-Avoidance Coping. In M. D. Gellman & J. R. Turner (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine (chapter 856). doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9

Schreiner, L.A. & Anderson, E. (2005). Strengths-based advising: A new lens for higher education. NACADA Journal: Fall, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 20-29. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.12930/0271-9517-25.2.20

Stallman, H. (2010). Psychological distress in university students: A comparison with general population data. Australian Psychologist 45(4), 249-257. doi: 10.1080/00050067.2010.482109

The art of reframing. Adapted from The Gower Stress Management Toolkit, Roy Bailey, Gower, Aldershot, 2001. Retrieved from http://www.multimediahrd.com/prodpdf/876-act2.pdf

Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes among minority students. Science, 331, 1447–1451. Retrieved from http://science.sciencemag.org/content/331/6023/1447.full

Walton, Gregory M.; Logel, Christine; Peach, Jennifer M.; Spencer, Steven J.; Zanna, Mark P. (2015). Two brief interventions to mitigate a “chilly climate” transform women’s experience, relationships, and achievement in engineering. Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 107(2), May 2015, 468-485. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037461

What you should know about characteristics of distressed students. University of California-Santa Cruz-Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) 831-459-2628 (Adapted from UCD and OCCDHE guidelines). Retrieved from http://www.mcckc.edu/counseling/maple-woods/CharacteristicsDistressedStudents.pdf

Q & AAnna Vest, M.S.Academic Advisornalitova@usf.edu

Jamie Chmiel, M.A.Academic Advisorjchmiel@usf.edu

INTO USF, University of South Florida