Ashley Brown.

Exemplary Competency – Advising and Helping

 

ACPA and NASPA (2010) defines the Advising and Helping competency as “knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to providing counseling and advising support, direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance to individuals and groups” (p. 6).  Based on my thorough experience and knowledge gained through my internship in student conduct, I would identify myself as exemplary in this competency. 

 

As a student conduct officer, the majority of my time has been spent interacting with students who are moving through the conduct process.  During a typical conduct meeting, I begin by learning a bit about the student’s interest, family, and educational aspirations.  Eventually, I transition into discussing the alleged behavior that led to the meeting.  During this portion of the conversation, I use active listening skills to investigate the incident and gain a solid understanding of the situation.  This is practiced by paraphrasing statements shared by the student and asking questions for clarification.  Once I have heard the student’s perspective, I challenge the student appropriately by engaging in questions about his/her actions and decision-making process.  The students are encouraged to reflect on the incident and attempt to make meaning of the experience.  If necessary, I will make referrals and recommendations to on- and off-campus agencies (e.g.  Counseling Center, the Link, Wellness Connection, etc.).  During some meetings, students became overwhelmed and distressed.  In those meetings, I analyzed the situation and implemented crisis management strategies such as walking a student to the counseling center for emergency counseling.  In accordance with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), I kept my interactions with students confidential and did not share details of my meetings with nonessential personnel.  My experience in each of these meetings therefore demonstrates my ability to establish rapport with students, facilitate reflection, exhibit active listening skills, challenge students effectively, know and use referral sources, identify patterns of behavior that signal mental health concerns, and maintain a degree of confidentiality (ACPA & NASPA, 2010).   

 

Throughout the past two years, I have heard progressively more difficult cases that required me to “strategically and simultaneously pursue multiple objectives” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 6).  For example, I met with a student who allegedly drank alcohol and then operated a vehicle.  During the meeting, in addition to her actions in the incident, she disclosed that she was working 40 hours, taking 18 academic credits, and emotionally supporting her mother through her second battle with cancer.  Not only did I have to address her behavior in the incident, I also needed to address her ability to cope with stress and assist her in finding a work-life balance. 

 

A part of my role in this position is also to facilitate Good Decision Making Seminars, which are two hour sessions that educate students about decision-making skills.  Additionally, the seminars encourage students to reflect on their behavior while learning from their peers about common issues on a college campus.  The seminar was created in 2004 and needed to be updated.  Therefore, I revamped the whole project and created a new video to add to the session.  By doing so, I successfully developed and implemented an outreach program while utilizing technology (ACPA & NASPA, 2010).  My experience as a facilitator of these seminars have helped me “perceive and analyze unspoken dynamics in a group setting [and] facilitate a group in decision making and goal setting” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 6). 

 

In staff meetings, we have intentionally identified different student populations or concerns and brought in speakers to express strategies that help students in difficult situations as well as techniques for working with specific groups.  For example, Eric Buetikofer, Recruiter/Transfer Advisor for Non-Traditional & Transfer Students, presented on the struggles of veteran students at Bowling Green State University and how going through the conduct process uniquely affects their federal funding.  Moreover, as a staff, we have participated in a number of webinars presented by the Association for Student Conduct Administrators (ASCA) that discussed supporting students who were sexually assaulted or handling mental health issues.  Following these webinars, we have organized discussions about the information presented and brainstormed ways to implement the suggestions.  Through these experiences, I actively sought out opportunities to engage my knowledge of student groups as well as engage in research regarding mental health issues (ACPA & NASPA, 2010).

 

CARE team is a group of senior administrators from different campus constituent groups (e.g. Health Center, Legal Services, Dean of Students, Residence Life, Counseling Center, Athletics, etc.) who come together to develop and implement institution-wide crisis management and intervention for students.  As a graduate student, I had the opportunity to take minutes and contribute ideas and experience during CARE team meetings.  I assisted in the coordination of crisis response and collaborated with other campus departments to address mental health and behavioral concerns (ACPA & NASPA, 2010).  For example, during a conduct meeting, a student shared that he was struggling with chronic depression and therefore using different drugs as medication.  In the CARE meeting, I worked with campus partners to develop an intervention plan and, in collaboration with the Counseling Center, monitored the student’s behavior and mental state throughout the rest of the semester.  This experience also demonstrates my ability to develop “liaisons with community mental health providers to ensure seamless and coordinated care” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 6).

 

Through these various experiences in my internship, I have gained a number of skills and knowledge that further demonstrates my ability to perform exemplary in this competency.  Likewise, I have exponentially grown in this area and I aspire to continue my growth within my next professional position. The following artifacts serve as evidence for my exemplary understanding of Advising and Helping. The chart illustrates the number of student conduct cases I have heard since my arrival at Bowling Green State University.  Each case requires I meet with the student at least once.  The chart also shows the type of violations that allegedly occurred, which can give insight into the type of conversations I had with students. The position description demonstrates the many job responsibilities that I am required to complete in my role as Student Conduct Graduate Intern.  As discussed in my description of this competency area, a number of my responsibilities allow me to enhance the Advising and Helping competency.