Abstract:Student affairs professionals are often called upon to act as first-responders to students experiencing trauma, leaving them exposed to secondary traumatic stress. In this study, I used phenomenological methods supported by an arts-based research exercise to explore the experiences and meaning making processes of student affairs professionals who have supported students through traumatic life events. The findings explore major themes, including the role of organizational influence on maladaptive views of stude… Show more
“…Being in community with others, particularly others who may have similar backgrounds or lived experiences, is also necessary to healing (Badenoch, 2017). Consistent across a number of studies (Crumpei & Dafinoiu, 2012; Lynch & Glass, 2020), one byproduct of experiencing trauma is a sense of isolation. Margaret, a new professional, recalled sharing her participation in my research with her peers and the feedback she received: I feel like whenever I brought up [this topic] to [co‐workers], people were really receptive because this is their experience too.…”
Section: Reducing the Cost Of Professional Helping In Student Affairsmentioning
confidence: 73%
“…While some of these signs (van Dernoot Lipsky, 2009) can be more readily recognized (such as feelings of fear, hopelessness, or anger), others may be harder to conceptualize (such as grandiosity or hypervigilance). Drawing on my year‐long phenomenological study of 30 SAPs who described themselves as having experienced secondary trauma (Lynch, 2017; Lynch & Glass, 2020), I attempt to offer practical examples of a few trauma exposure responses that may be more obscure (grandiosity, avoidance, and hypervigilance) in what follows:…”
Section: What Is Secondary Traumatic Stress?mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…One consistent theme in my research has been the persistent and widespread nature of student trauma within higher education (Lynch, 2017). Traumatic experiences including food and/or home insecurity, sexual violence, mental health disorders, and discrimination are only the tip of what students may experience while in college (Lynch & Glass, 2020; Silverman & Glick, 2010); yet, due to the transient nature of higher education, student affairs practitioners are presented with a new batch of students to support through these crises year after year. Krista, a former residential life professional turned career counselor recalled one particularly tough year for her: One of the years that I was [a resident director], in the course of a month, there were two suicide completions and another three hospitalizations for attempts when I was on call.…”
Section: The Paradox Of Student Support In Higher Educationmentioning
It is estimated that over half of college student affairs practitioners support students through traumatic life events on at least a monthly basis. This level of trauma exposure leaves professionals at risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress (STS), or the distress that results from helping, or wanting to help, a person experiencing trauma. Unfortunately, little is known about the impact of this phenomenon within the context of student affairs work. This article seeks to shed light on the nature and impact of STS within the context of college student affairs work, as well as explore ways to identify and address the negative impacts of professional helping. The article ends with practical recommendations for individual practitioners, supervisors, organizational leaders, and the profession at-large.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
“…Being in community with others, particularly others who may have similar backgrounds or lived experiences, is also necessary to healing (Badenoch, 2017). Consistent across a number of studies (Crumpei & Dafinoiu, 2012; Lynch & Glass, 2020), one byproduct of experiencing trauma is a sense of isolation. Margaret, a new professional, recalled sharing her participation in my research with her peers and the feedback she received: I feel like whenever I brought up [this topic] to [co‐workers], people were really receptive because this is their experience too.…”
Section: Reducing the Cost Of Professional Helping In Student Affairsmentioning
confidence: 73%
“…While some of these signs (van Dernoot Lipsky, 2009) can be more readily recognized (such as feelings of fear, hopelessness, or anger), others may be harder to conceptualize (such as grandiosity or hypervigilance). Drawing on my year‐long phenomenological study of 30 SAPs who described themselves as having experienced secondary trauma (Lynch, 2017; Lynch & Glass, 2020), I attempt to offer practical examples of a few trauma exposure responses that may be more obscure (grandiosity, avoidance, and hypervigilance) in what follows:…”
Section: What Is Secondary Traumatic Stress?mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…One consistent theme in my research has been the persistent and widespread nature of student trauma within higher education (Lynch, 2017). Traumatic experiences including food and/or home insecurity, sexual violence, mental health disorders, and discrimination are only the tip of what students may experience while in college (Lynch & Glass, 2020; Silverman & Glick, 2010); yet, due to the transient nature of higher education, student affairs practitioners are presented with a new batch of students to support through these crises year after year. Krista, a former residential life professional turned career counselor recalled one particularly tough year for her: One of the years that I was [a resident director], in the course of a month, there were two suicide completions and another three hospitalizations for attempts when I was on call.…”
Section: The Paradox Of Student Support In Higher Educationmentioning
It is estimated that over half of college student affairs practitioners support students through traumatic life events on at least a monthly basis. This level of trauma exposure leaves professionals at risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress (STS), or the distress that results from helping, or wanting to help, a person experiencing trauma. Unfortunately, little is known about the impact of this phenomenon within the context of student affairs work. This article seeks to shed light on the nature and impact of STS within the context of college student affairs work, as well as explore ways to identify and address the negative impacts of professional helping. The article ends with practical recommendations for individual practitioners, supervisors, organizational leaders, and the profession at-large.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
“…This creates pushback and often hinders UDL promotion rather than advance it (Roth et al, 2018). It would also be naïve to not acknowledge the hierarchical barriers which exist between staff and faculty on HE campuses; institutional status often means that faculty will feel they can, to a great degree, disregard recommendations from accessibility services regarding UDL implementation, or inclusive pedagogy more generally (Lynch, 2017). These issues related to status and hierarchical barriers also affect communication channels, and accessibility services will often report that they are not in a position to engage faculty unless and instructor reaches out directly.…”
Section: The Ambivalent Role Of Disability Service Providersmentioning
This paper argues that, as Canadian Higher Education campuses embark on large scale Universal Design for Learning (UDL) implementation, it is essential for them to take the time to strategically consider inherent institutional challenges before pushing ahead. As a result, it is argued that ecological theory will represent a unique and powerful lens in this process of implementation. The first section of the paper examines two inherent dangers being perpetuated in current UDL drives on the vast majority of Canadian campuses that have embarked on this adventure: (i) overreliance on disability service providers, and (ii) a conceptualization of UDL work in silos. The second half of the paper focuses on solutions, and on the idea of developing a strategic approach to UDL integration framed around ecological theory. The paper draws on an analysis of phenomenological data emerging from the author’s own lived experience as a consultant responding regularly to the needs of post-secondary campuses with regards to the institutional adoption of UDL.
“…This long-standing abuse that he experienced as a staff member at his former institution is not a lone incident-many lower-level administrators experience burnout through compassion fatigue and end up leaving their institutions. Coupled with secondary trauma that much higher education and student affairs administrators experience-this can create a toxic work environment (Lynch and Glass, 2020).…”
Section: Administrators In Higher Educationmentioning
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took the world into crisis. We saw the virus alter a multitude of spheres worldwide, including our healthcare, economies, politics, social processes, and education. In fact, the impact of COVID-19 on educational administration took our leaders into forced emergency measures. Our study aims to better understand the experiences of educational administrators under crisis to ascertain what might be learned on how educational institutions may better respond to the crisis in the future. These stories were collected from educational leaders, both from K-12 and higher education, throughout the United States. In brief, this article is framed in the theory and literature associated with the complexity of leading in times of crisis. We explore the resiliency of leadership forged in crisis and the rethinking of administrative as administration as a caring and trustful acts. Our research began as a hermeneutic phenomenological interview study, but transitions into a two-round project, where after the first interview, participants were invited to share some images that typify and speak to the experiences being educational administrators during this time. We are engaged in sensitive topics that are ongoing and changing. Moreover, throughout, we are asking for images that speak to their experiences. Across both K-12 and higher education, our results indicated varied responses, from immediate to delayed administrative action. However, albeit they looked contextually different, there are clear indications the participants valued continuous, transparent communication, authentic caring, trust, and agency. In our discussion, we elaborate on the distinction between what the institutional response was as compared to what was valued by our educational leaders. Finally, as a contribution to the field, we seek to provide guidance for future administrators in crisis based on our own experiences and the recommendations provided by our educational leaders.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
