Faculty and Staff Guide
Faculty and staff members are often in a unique position to identify and help students who are in distress. Sometimes students cannot or will not turn to family or friends. A student may view you as a trustworthy person in whom to confide. Your expression of concern may be a critical factor in saving a student’s academic career or even their life. The purpose of this page is to help you recognize some of the symptoms of student distress and identify specific options for interventions and referrals to campus resources. The Wellness Center is available to assist you with these situations and to consult with you on how to intervene with a student.
Along with the ordinary life stressors, graduate students can struggle with their own special challenges that coincide with early, middle, and later adulthood. These include adjusting to a new environment, effectively managing academic transition times, dealing with career path issues, handling financial and family responsibilities, microaggressions, and discrimination and maintaining productive relationships with faculty and students. The stress can overwhelm their capacity to cope. Students may feel alone, isolated, and even hopeless when faced with academic and life challenges. These feelings can easily disrupt academic performance and may lead to dysfunctional coping and serious consequences such as substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, and/or attempts, self-injury, interpersonal conflict, or other mental health concerns.
All of us at some time in our lives may have had challenging days, feel sad, depressed, and/or upset. Significant distress experienced over a prolonged period of time, however, may suggest a more serious problem.
Severely distressed students often exhibit behaviors that signify an obvious crisis and necessitate emergency care. Examples may include:
- Highly disruptive behavior (e.g. hostility, aggression, violence, etc.)
- Inability to communicate clearly (garbled, slurred speech; unconnected, disjointed, or rambling thoughts)
- Loss of contact with reality (hearing or seeing things which others cannot see or hear; beliefs or actions greatly at odds with reality or probability)
- Stalking behaviors
- Inappropriate communications (including threatening letters, email messages, harassment, incoherent communication, etc.)
- Overtly suicidal thoughts (including referring to suicide as a current option or in a written assignment)
- Threats to harm others
Other behaviors may not necessarily be disruptive to others, but may nevertheless indicate something is wrong and signal that assistance is needed. These behaviors may include:
- Depressed mood, lethargy; falling asleep in class; very rapid speech; marked change in personal dress and hygiene
- Unusual or exaggerated emotional responses which are obviously inappropriate to the situation
- New or repeated behavior which pushes the limits of decorum and interferes with effective management of the immediate environment
- Changed patterns of interaction that are unusual or markedly different, e.g., avoidance of participation, marked anxiety when called upon, domination of discussions, etc.
- Change in class attendance or unexplained absences.
- Change from consistently good grades to poor performance.
- Repeated requests for special consideration, such as deadline extensions, especially if the student appears uncomfortable or highly emotional while disclosing the circumstances prompting the request.
- Changes in other characteristics that may indicate that the student is having trouble managing stress successfully include poor concentration; fatigue; sad mood; decreased interest in activities, etc.
Faculty and staff are not expected to monitor students’ behavior, nor are they expected to be clinicians. You may, however, be the first contact for a student in distress by providing an early opportunity to respond with the eventual help the student needs. Asking a few gentle questions could lead to your making a pain-relieving or life-enhancing referral for the student.
If you feel at all uneasy about what to do, seek consultation. When you set up a time to talk with the student, try to arrange it when you will not be rushed or interrupted. Keep your own safety in mind when you interact with a student who is in distress. Consultation can help you decide whether you or others should initiate a discussion with the student.
- Reach out: Extend a genuine statement of interest in and concern for the student. Be calm and matter-of-fact in your approach. State clearly in behavioral terms what you have noticed that has led to your concern (e.g., “I’ve noticed that you’ve been absent from class lately, and I’ve been concerned. How are you doing?”)
- Listen: Listen in a non-judgmental fashion. Support begins with understanding. Students in distress often feel very vulnerable and are sensitive to real or imagined criticism. (e.g., “Thank you for sharing this with me!”)
- Empathize: Try to understand the student from his or her perspective. (e.g., “That seems like a very difficult situation.”)
- Normalize: If appropriate, reassure the student that many graduate students feel overwhelmed and stressed out.
- De-stigmatize counseling: Take the anxiety out of seeking help. Reassure the student that counseling is here for students because graduate school is a time for growth and development, which can sometimes be challenging. You can affirm that seeking professional help is a positive and responsible thing to do, a sign of strength and resourcefulness. (e.g., “I wonder if you have considered the Student Counseling Services. Many of my grad students have been helped by them. Can I help you make contact with them or can I give you their information?”)
Teaching Tips: Referring A Student To Counseling (downloadable PDF of the information above)
Supporting Graduate Students During Stressful Times (University of Michigan)
It is likely time to refer the student to counseling when…
- You don’t know how to help the student.
- You feel that the student’s circumstances are overwhelming.
- You feel unable to provide all the support the student needs.
- You feel that you have reached your limit or have exhausted your ideas on how to help.
- The student’s struggles leave you feeling helpless and anxious.
- You feel angry or intimidated by the student’s comments or behavior. (Of course, don’t make a referral if you think that doing so could put you at risk — in this case consult with others.)
- You are spending large amounts of time on the student’s problems.
Whenever you are in doubt about making a counseling referral, consult with a supervisor, colleague, or mental health provider. You may call Student Counseling Services at 212.817.7020 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to talk with a therapist. The therapist will be able to discuss your concerns and identify appropriate resources. You may not have to give the student’s name in order to receive consultation that might be instrumental for resolution.
A student whose behavior has become threatening, violent, or significantly disruptive may need a different kind of approach involving campus security. You may want to call the Office of Public Safety at 212.817.7777 and/or the Office of Student Affairs at 212.817.7420 for consultation.
Some additional content from University of California at Irvine Counseling Center: www.counseling.uci.edu