Advising and Supporting

Prior to my academic exposure to this competency area I was at the pre-foundational level in most rubrics but I now exhibit intermediate levels of interpersonal skills in terms of facilitating individual decision-making and active listening, I am at the intermediate level in the professional development expectation in terms of using communication and learning technology to address students’ holistic wellness issues and developing and distributing accurate and helpful mental health information, I do this with a monthly talk series with my students. I am at the intermediate level in group dynamics in terms of facilitating group decision-making, goal setting and process; I host group meetings to provide training to students who are new to the college application process and bi-weekly, follow-up meetings to evaluate their progress. I display foundational to intermediate levels in partnering with others in terms of knowing referral sources and using referral skills in seeking expert assistance. 

Major highlights for me were Restorative Justice as explained by Katy Hutchison in her TEDx video and Empathy as explained by Brene´ Brown in her animated video and her ‘Guidelines for engaged feedback’. Prior to taking the Advising and Supporting class, I had not heard of restorative justice, listening to Katy narrate her experience and her choice to utilize the strategy with the killer of her husband was mind-boggling. Through her story, I am learning to find humanity despite the difficulty or severity of the situation as “labeling, shaming and blaming do not address the underlying issues and do not benefit the community” (TEDxWestVancouverED [TEDx Talks], 2013). This is my first growth area, realizing that an offense should not mean the perpetrator should be permanently removed from the community. I hope to get to the point she is someday through continued learning. Empathy is one word I thought I understood until I watched the short, animated clip by Brene´ Brown (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw). In her words, “It’s not our responses that make it better but our connection with the person”. She explained that empathy is recognizing emotion in others and communicating it, feeling with others and switching from our own set of experiences to theirs. I have been one to always share similar experiences or even the experiences of others whenever someone is sharing their experience with me, but this knowledge has helped me keep my thoughts while listening, acknowledging others and allow them to own their moment. 

Another area I have witnessed growth has been active listening; I have learned attending behavior during a conversation, mindfulness skills (paying attention on purpose in the present moment without judgment) such as listening without interrupting, questioning, paraphrasing, affirmation, reflection and being economical with advice.  I also realize that advice-giving can be counter-productive to students, my job is to listen which can actually lead them to their own solutions or to provide different perspectives that will lead them towards decision making. I have also learned conflict resolution strategies such as getting input from everyone involved on the approach to resolution and gaining agreement on action plans. I have deepened my conflict resolution In conflict resolution knowledge with strategies such as facilitation, negotiation, mediation and arbitration which all ensure progress towards a solution by focusing on it instead of the cause. I have not had ample opportunities to put this to practice in my work with students due to limited physical interaction during the pandemic, but I have implemented it with family disputes.

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My understanding of student affairs is that as practitioners, we are in the business of people; I have grown in purposefully relating with people, this knowledge will enrich my interactions and relationships with students, colleagues, friends and family as I provide advise and support 

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