The Challenge of Student Mental Well-Being: Reconnecting Students Services with the Academic Universe

Sitting in discomfort: supporting the experiences of non-Clinical, student affairs staff managing student well-being concerns

“…The functional responsibilities of student affairs staff make them care agents participating in a campuswide pursuit of well-being for students by all stakeholders (American Council on Education, 2019; Locke et al, 2016). Student affairs staff can take proactive approaches to promote well-being including simple mindfulness exercises (Parcover et al, 2015) through reactive roles to mitigate self-being while also engaging in acute episodes of mental health concern (Swanbrow Becker & Drum, 2015), staff serve in a dual-pronged role (Hughes, 2021). While it is unclear how ready staff are for this role (Schmid & Wagstaff, 2019), it is clear from the literature that both faculty and staff can play an important part in partnering to provide support outside of clinical offerings, identifying student needs, promoting help-seeking, and connecting to resources (Wiest & Treacy, 2019;Dickens & Guy, 2019).…”

“…Mental health professionals bear significant pressure and responsibility to avoid client suicide at all costs (Polychronis, 2018c). As student affairs staff continue to step into care roles alongside counseling professionals (Hughes, 2021;Dickens & Guy, 2019;Shaw, 2018), the same pressures exist for preventing suicide and avoiding other acute traumatic events (Holzweiss & Walker, 2018). Meilman (2016) notes there is a consistent pressure and challenge to do more regarding student counseling and care, yet Stock and Levine (2017) note the importance of recognizing limits and identifying boundaries as an untrained staff member so that pressures do not lead staff to push beyond the limits of their knowledge or skills.…”