Advising and Helping

As a Graduate Hall Director (GHD) for the Office of Residence Life (ORL), I have had the opportunity to directly supervise and advise an Administrative Resident Assistant and ten Resident Advisors. Throughout my two years in the program I have had the privilege to work with a total of 22 very different individuals. This meant that I had to figure out how to supervise each one individually, because each individual was unique in terms of his or her needs, passions, and values. I think that my supervision experience as a GHD allowed me to discover my own personal style, which is highly reflective of the Jesuit education that I received at Loyola Marymount University. The following artifacts are proof of my exemplary competency in Advising and Helping

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Narrative & Artifacts

To best display my competency in this area, I felt it was necessary to provide artifacts that represent the students that I currently or previously have supervised. The reason for this is because I believe that these testimonials provide a better representation of how I interact and advise my students. Each student had a different experience but that I was still able to contribute to his or her development at some capacity. Personally, I believe that advising and helping should be viewed in a spectrum, with one side focused on the individual and the other focused on his or her impact at the group level.

At the individual level, I spend a large time trying to determine what drives my students during our one-on-ones. I spend a large portion of my conversations with them trying to develop a holistic picture of who they are. I often start my one-on-one conversation with students by asking them about their life philosophies. The reasoning for this is because this I believe that asking them this question gives me an accurate description of the person’s values. I think it is important to incorporate their passion areas in order to engage and energize them. Additionally, it allows me figure out how to utilize their values to determine their strengths and weaknesses. Using this information, I then create and use reflective questions focused on those areas to make our relationship stimulating and engaging. By catering to their values, I am indirectly creating a medium to foster student development by providing experiences that will help them learn, develop, and grow. This means that I like to maximize on their strengths but also provide opportunities for them to develop areas in which they lack experience.

In a group setting, I use the information I gained from the rapport I built with my students to contribute to how I supervise my staff. I believe that knowing what motivates and drives each one of my students allows me to predict staff dynamics and how I can contribute to their learning as a group through staff development. For example, I utilized my staff’s individual strengths and weakness to create 6 Community Development Plan (CDP) groups. Each group contains 2-3 members who were in charge of programming specifically for on of our core areas (which include service, academics, diversity, spirit, leadership, and wellness). I intentionally placed individuals who would either compliment or challenge the other group members.

The Jesuit term cura personalis perfectly summarizes my student-centered approach to advising. The term means taking care of the whole (mental, physical, and spiritual) person. During my interactions with my RAs I always make an effort to ask questions pertaining to their academic work, the position, and their personal lives in effort to gain a holistic understanding of them as entire people. I incorporate reflective dialogue into our conversations as a means to promote self-awareness. The conversations often include questions that resemble the questions that Parks used in Big Question, Worthy Dreams. By using these questions, I have been able to assess my students. This assessment has allowed me to determine whether they need to be challenged or supported. Ways in which I support my RAs are by extending deadlines, mediating conflicts, recommending programming ideas, and providing suggestions based off experience. In addition, I make an effort make my interactions fun.

Fun plays a major role in my supervision style. I believe that adding humor to my conversations increases morale. I feel that my humor makes it easy for students to connect to me because it makes me relatable. Additionally, I also make an effort to make sure that my staff knows that I care for them. My ability to affirm my students makes them feel like I appreciate them because I am invested in their success. Students who feel like someone cares about them are more satisfied; therefore, my ability to love unconditionally contributes to the satisfaction of my staff.

RA Testimonials

Of the Month (OTM)

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Basic

Exhibit active listening skills (e.g., appropriately establishing interpersonal contact, paraphrasing, perception checking, summarizing, questioning, encouraging, avoid interrupting, clarifying).

Establish rapport with students, groups, colleagues, and others.

Facilitate reflection to make meaning from experience.

Understand and use appropriate nonverbal communication.

Strategically and simultaneously pursue multiple objectives in conversations with students.

Facilitate problem-solving.

Facilitate individual decision making and goal setting

Challenge and encourage students and colleagues effectively

Know and use referral sources (e.g., other offices, outside agencies, knowledge sources), and exhibit referral skills in seeking expert assistance.

Identify when and with whom to implement appropriate crisis management and intervention responses.

Maintain an appropriate degree of confidentiality that follows applicable legal and licensing requirements, facilitates the development of trusting relationships, and recognizes when confidentiality should be broken to protect the student or others.

Recognize the strengths and limitations of one's own worldview on communication with others (e.g., how

terminology could either liberate or constrain others with different gender identities, sexual orientations, abilities, cultural backgrounds).

Actively seek out opportunities to expand one's own knowledge and skills in helping students with specific concerns (e.g., suicidal students) and as well as interfacing with specific populations within the college student environment (e.g., student veterans).

Intermediate

Perceive and analyze unspoken dynamics in a group setting.

Facilitate or coach group decision-making, goal setting, and process

Identify patterns of behavior that signal mental health concerns.

Manage conflict.

Mediate differences between or among individuals and groups.

Appropriately mentor students and staff.

Demonstrate culturally appropriate advising, helping, coaching, and counseling strategies.

Initiate crises intervention responses and processes.

Utilize technology (e.g., websites, social networking, video clips, podcasts) to address students' mental health issues.

Consult with mental health professionals as appropriate.

I demonstrate competency by