Talking Stick - September/October 2008 - (Page 17)

Evelyn Wallington, associate director of residence life at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, notes the importance of recognizing that these signs of stress vary from one person to another: “The physical signs are very individualized. Everyone’s level of fatigue and the cumulative effects are different.” She has seen staff present physical signs of on-the-job stress such as not making eye contact when they are speaking, exhibiting changes in weight, not paying as much attention to their appearance, and reducing their physical activity – or going to the opposite extreme and obsessing over their appearance and working out more. “Another sign is a disregard for self and a higher need to help others. They feel others deserve attention more than they do,” she says, adding that stressed-out staff tend to dodge questions about if they are taking care of themselves and quickly try to change the subject. Recognizing symptoms of stress in staff is just as crucial as recognizing them in students, as Wallington explains: “Our student staff members are just like our students, as they come to college with their own issues. We will have to learn how to deal with this more in the future.” Current studies point to the rise of mental health problems on campus. According to one study, An Audit of Mental Health Care at U.S. Colleges and Universities: Focus on Anxiety Disorders, published by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America in March 2007, one key finding was that institutions are reporting an increase in students needing and accessing mental health services within the past three years. Another key finding was that institutions reported students coming to campus with a history of mental health problems, increased anxiety after 9/11, and – fortunately – an increased awareness of mental health issues. Griffin estimates that 25 percent of his case load is working with people in grief. “All grief is an accumulation of prior losses,” he explains. “Thus, when we intervene in active bereavement we are always wise to be thinking about concurrent and past losses.” Furthermore, in the case of staff assisting students multiple times, “There is a level of emotional exhaustion that is introduced that can lead to cumulative grief if not attended to,” explains Derrick Paladino, assistant professor of graduate studies in counseling at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. “This may occur for several reasons: if the assistance is continually with the same student with no movement toward resolution; if the assistance is with different students and the initial student event was not ‘successful’ in the eyes of the staff member or not resolved; if the staff member has a level of countertransference or a deeper personal reaction to the event, or the staff member did not fully recover from the personal effect of the first event. That’s not to say that these are the only reasons, but one can imagine, as in any helping profession, if there is no time for debriefing or processing after a series of working with traumatic events then the residual feelings can become quite overwhelming and potentially ‘stuck’ within the individual.” The difficulties in dealing with stress can be exacerbated by a staff member’s concern about how they are perceived by their peers. “There is also an abiding concern that staff not appear before their peers or supervisors as ‘weakened’ by the experience, which further detracts from their ability to effectively express their desire for help and the descriptive aspects of their experience,” Griffin explains. Both he and Paladino agree that a built-in support structure is needed to detect and help alleviate signs of stress in staff and that it needs to be there from the moment they are on the job. “[Grief ] is further magnified if there is not a program involved that assists the staff members to process their experiences; this is true even if it is one event (usually a larger one that affects a large section or population of the campus),” Paladino says. Griffin suggests several ways to provide this support. Upon hiring, the department should make staff aware that their well-being is a top priority, and they should inform them about the types of support not only outside the department but also inside: “Staff should be made aware that their supervisors are ‘support friendly’ and view post-crisis reactions as a normal part of very difficult work.” Everyone handles grief differently, and staff should never feel the sense of isolation that comes from thinking no one else around them appears to be showing similar symptoms. They need to be reassured that the bereavement process and reactions to grief are different for everyone and that support will be tailored to their specific needs. September + October 2008 17

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Talking Stick - September/October 2008 Contents Online Now Vision Just In Your ACUHO-I Transitions Res Life Facilities Business Calendar Safe Harbor Think Globally, React Locally Conversations First Takes Reporting Out New Members Snapshot

Talking Stick - September/October 2008

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