Identifying and Referring Students in Distress: A Guide for Faculty & Staff

University students typically encounter a great deal of stress (i.e., academic, social, family, work, financial) during the course of their educational experience. While most students cope successfully with the demands of college life, for some the pressures can become overwhelming and unmanageable. Students in distress have a number of resources available to them. These include close friends, relatives, clergy, coaches, etc. In fact, anyone who is seen as caring and trustworthy may be a potential resource in time of trouble. Another obvious resource for students is university faculty and staff members.

We believe there is a powerful rationale for faculty and staff members to intervene when they encounter distressed students. The inability to cope effectively with emotional stress poses a serious threat to students' learning ability. As a faculty or staff member, your expression of interest and concern may be a critical factor in helping a struggling student reestablish the emotional equilibrium necessary for academic survival and success.

Your willingness to respond to students in distress will undoubtedly be influenced by your personal style and your particular philosophy about the limits of a professor's responsibility for helping students grow emotionally, as well as intellectually. Obviously, a student's openness to assistance, and such situational factors as class size, length and depth of your relationship, and the location of the contact, may have a substantial effect on the type of interaction you can have with a student.

We hope this guide will not only help you assess what can sometimes be a difficult situation, but give you some specific ideas about what you can do when confronted with a student who is in distress.

Counseling & Consultation Center staff are available in person or on call 24 hours per day, everyday, including holidays and weekends.