skip to content

Barry's Corner


May 2009

In my first column of the Summer, I want to share with you a key thing we are up to when it comes to responding to and managing students who, due to the levels of distress they sometimes feel, give us concern. That key thing is our Students of Concern Team (SCT). I know that sounds like some sort of covert operation, but it’s anything but. It is one of several systems Student Affairs staff have put together to make sure we’re staying on top of our students when they have difficulties so we can intervene before things go from distressing to possibly disastrous. Several Student Affairs leaders sit on the SCT which meets weekly. SCT members talk about everything from students who are “activating numerous systems” (that’s our fancy jargon for students who are showing up on everybody’s radar screen)(and that’s our fancy jargon for a student experiencing difficulty in multiple campus settings) to students who are struggling with multiple concerns, e.g. emotional, behavioral, familial, academic, economic, relational, and otherwise. As an example, we had a student who had been having angry outbursts in the residence hall, got written up for having illicit drugs in his room, was increasingly seeming distressed in class and acting out with faculty as a result, and who made subtle but threatening statements about harming himself to friends. Numerous problems showing up in numerous settings, got it!? These students, not unusually, show up on the SCT. How does that happen, you ask? Well, the SCT and its members have extended themselves to all parts of campus: faculty, staff, parents, administrators, and students. The SCT has the rallying call of “CALL US” if there is a concern and we will activate the Student Affairs web of service. And call you have. Many students ended up on our “radar screens” because you put them there. Good work! The “web of help” cannot be broad enough.

In reflecting on our year just past, the SCT members easily named several students, who, had they not shown up on the SCT radar screen, and had we not responded in an early, preventive, comprehensive, and quite serious manner, would have most likely ended up in much more dire outcomes. To put it bluntly, we literally saved several students from harm to themselves and possibly to others. And let me put it one more way, we should feel darn glad that Student Affairs professionals are at work watching out not only for students who are in distress, but who are also watching out for the well-being of the greater community by boldly intervening, without hesitation, in these situations. We don’t save everyone, but we sure do save most of them!

As a side note, a SCT is a common team on campuses all over the country. What UConn does that many other campuses do not, is we call our team a “students of concerns” team rather that what is more popularly called a “threat assessment team.” We really must resist the temptation to think of our students as threats. It is a slippery slope and can result in thinking of our students as nothing more than potential threats rather than as students sometimes in high levels of distress in need of connection, support, and services.

It is no secret whatsoever that the needs of our students have become increasingly complex; the economic, success, and social demands on them are higher than they have ever been, and the presence of medications in their lives significantly altering their moods is almost mainstay. That being said, the days of simply advising students when they are confused is not all that is demanded of us anymore. The days of intervening, redirecting, and in some cases providing emergency services has also become commonplace for Student Affairs. So, please note that the SCT did its job this past year and will continue to do so next year providing one more layer of health and safety for the UConn campus. Want to find out more, check out SCT’s guiding policies and procedures by clicking here. And, as always, contact me anytime with your concerns, questions, and compliments at: barry@uconn.edu.

 
Helping Students in Distress
A Faculty & Staff Guide

Barry's Corner Archives