Note:
This article is part of series
celebrating NACADA 30th anniversary. In this series current
NACADA members build upon the work done within the 1995
monograph, Advising as a Comprehensive Campus Process,
as they highlight the important connections advisors make
across campus.
The
Puzzle of College Students Success: Fitting the Counseling and
Advising Pieces Together
Elizabeth
J. Krumrei
Kansas
State University
Fred
B. Newton
Director,
Counseling Services
Kansas
State University
A
common purpose of advisors and counselors in academia is to help
college students achieve success. In this article we consider
how advisors and counselors can complement one another in working
towards this shared goal.
Student
Success
Success
is a broad concept that may vary from student to student, but
we propose that it encompasses achieving academic goals (knowledge,
skills, degree, and employment) and having personal satisfaction
(congruence, well-being, and confidence). The former has very
tangible measures such as grade point average and diploma. The
latter has less external measures but is nonetheless observable
when students find compatibility between their personal aptitudes,
interests, and aspirations.
Research
has highlighted three categories of variables that are predictive
of students achieving success in the academic arena, including
ability, circumstance and personal factors (See Fig. 1 for comparative
influences of each category: Kim, Newton, Downey, & Benton,
in press). The ability category is often assessed by measures
of aptitude and achievement. This factor has been shown to have
the greatest predictive power for academic success. However, academic
ability is a predominantly inherent factor with limited flexibility
for the student to change. Circumstance involves situational factors
(e.g., family of origin, socio-economic level, ethnicity and geography)
over which a person also may have limited control. Finally, approximately
30 to 40% of accomplishing academic goals is attributable to personal
factors, which include attitudes (e.g., motivation and work ethics),
self-perceptions (e.g., confidence and self-efficacy), behaviors
(e.g., organization, study habits and lifestyle), problem-solving
(e.g., critical thinking and decision making), and values (e.g.,
personal preferences and beliefs). This category is most amenable
to change and therefore the most fertile ground for advisors and
counselors to focus their efforts to promote student success.
Figure
1: Factors Impacting Academic Performance
Some
make the assumption that the personal factors slice of the pie
belongs solely to counselors. However, we emphasize that it is
also relevant to advisors because personal
variables have a significant impact on whether a student is able
to persevere and succeed in academic goals. At times student contact
with an advisor calls for a specific and direct response to an
informational question. However, students also turn to advisors
with personal issues that may be causing concern in their academic
life. In this article, we highlight some of the ways that advisors
can work with students in the arena of personal factors, consider
the differences between advising and counseling, and discuss how
advisors can facilitate referrals and transitions to counselors.
Steps
to Success in Advising Students on Personal Factors
Working
with students’ personal needs will likely involve the steps of
exploring, conceptualizing, planning, and taking action (see Fig.
2). This approach will have many parallels for advisors and counselors.
Here we focus on implementing these steps from an advisor’s perspective.
Figure
2: Process Model for Student Personal Concerns
Step
1: Exploration. The first
stage of any personalized contact with students involves clarifying
and understanding the concern. The goal is to hear students express
from their perspective what is affecting them. This
can be done by taking time to listen, reflecting
back the content of students’ disclosures, gaining clarifications
through elaborative questions, and making summary statements that
connect the disclosures to a problem they are having as students.
Fassaert, van Dulmen, Schellevis,
and Bensing (2007) developed the
Active Listening Observation Scale which
is useful for considering which behaviors promote effective listening
in professional relationships. This includes not being distracted,
expressing understanding non-verbally, exploring questions, and
leading the conversation. While advisors and counselors benefit
from similar communication strategies, the goal for advisors is
to gain some understanding of what
may be causing academic disruption for the student,
rather than to work towards correcting emotional or personal problems.
This exploration process leads
to the next step of forming a hypothesis of what is causing the
disruption.
Step
2: Conceptualization.
Once students have expressed their concern, it is necessary to
form a conceptualization of what is happening and what needs to
be corrected. In the health field this is referred to as triage,
the process of identifying, sorting, and determining the priorities
for responding to the individual. Table 1 provides an overview
of some of the factors we will discuss in this article that are
relevant to conceptualizing students' concerns as either fitting
within the framework of advising or being appropriate for counseling.
A number of tools have been developed to aid in the process of
defining students’ concerns. For example, the Missouri Classification
System (Callis, 1965) is a way to map the nature of students’
problems based on the content theme (educational, personal-emotional,
or vocational) and source (lack of information, personal skill
level, environmental factors, conflict with self, or conflict
with others). Structured assessment tools can also be employed
to help define the problem and how it relates to academic behavior.
For example, the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI)
gathers information about a student’s attitudes, dispositions,
and personal behavior (Weinstein, 1987). Additionally, the College
Learning Effectiveness Inventory (CLEI) assesses specific personal
and academic factors that are predictive of outcomes such as grade
point average and satisfaction with college life (Kim et. al.,
in press ). These tools are useful for pinpointing the source
of concern and how it relates to academic functioning. For example,
one college has used the CLEI to understand points of intervention
for at-risk students resulting in increasing retention rate by
20% among this group over a four-year period (Sannes, 2009).
In
addition to considering the nature of a student’s concern, the
severity of the problem is also crucial for determining whether
the situation falls within the bounds of academic advising or
should be referred to a counselor. This involves considering the
extent to which the issue is interfering in the student’s life,
including his or her academic responsibilities, work roles, and
personal relationships and activities. If a problem prevents a
student from being able to focus in class; if it disturbs sleep;
if it is putting work performance at risk; if it is causing relational
conflict, these are reasons that counseling may be helpful. Kuhn,
Gordon, and Webber (2006) have provided a more detailed framework
for considering which observations should trigger referring students
to counseling.
Table
1: Factors relevant to the decision of whether to refer a student
for counseling
Step
3: Plan. Thus far, these
steps can be thought of as: what? (exploring), so what? (conceptualizing),
and now what? (planning). The planning stage makes explicit what
can be done in response to a student concern. One of the most
important aspects of this step is student commitment to the plan.
The popular transtheoretical model (Prochaska, Norcross, &
DiClemente, 1994) is useful for considering students' readiness
for change. Students can range among stages of (1) pre-contemplation,
in which they have a lack of concern for the problem and may be
referred for help by a professor or parent; (2) contemplation,
characterized by ambivalence about taking action; (3) preparation,
which may include experimenting with small changes; (4) action,
being ready to address the problem directly; and (5) maintenance,
keeping up with solutions to the problem over time. Tailoring
the approach to a student’s position in the change process can
improve communication and outcomes (e.g., Cooper, 1995). Table
2 provides further information on how to assess and work with
students in different stages of change.
Table
2: Assessing and Working within Stages of Change
| Readiness
to Change Ruler ^
|
Not
prepared to change _____________________________________________________________________
Ready to Change
|
| Instruction
to students |
Follow
up questions |
| Mark
where you think you fall on this line
|
-Why
did you not mark yourself further to the left? |
-Why
did you not mark yourself further to the right? |
Motivational
Interviewing Questions by Stage |
| precontemplation
|
contemplation
|
Preparation
|
| -What
would have to happen for you to know that this is a problem?
-What
signals will tell you to think about making a change? |
-What
would be a good result of changing?
-What
are the reasons for not changing?
|
-What
barriers have you overcome in the past?
-What
is keeping you stuck?
-What
strategies worked before?
|
^
Adapted from Rollnick, Butler, & Stott, 1997
It
can be challenging to work with students in a stage of pre-contemplation
or contemplation. They may make light of the concern or use “yes,
but” statements. They are unlikely to benefit from concrete advice
from an advisor or from further counseling. Rather than taking
a directive stance, which can heighten resistance, advisors can
use motivational interviewing to help students start considering
the need for change (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). This involves
using open-ended questions that allow students to talk about the
advantages of taking action and the disadvantages of inaction.
Discrepancies between students’ goals or values and their behavior
can then gently be highlighted. By taking an empathetic stance
and using reflective statements, advisors can decrease students’
hostility and empower them to seek solutions that are in their
best interest.
Students
in a stage of preparation or action are more able to focus on
problem-solving. This involves defining what resolution or improvement
is desired. Advisors can facilitate this process. Ender and Newton
(2000) describe useful problem solving resources that range from
simple methods such as selecting from alternatives to more intricate
strategies such as force field analyses, which factor in both
positive alternatives and the elimination of restrictions. The
most successful goals are personally relevant, desirable, clear,
and reasonably attainable (Ender & Newton, 2000). An advisor
can help students go from general aspirations such as “becoming
a better student,” to definable activities that make the goal
attainable (e.g., limit drinking to one night per week, schedule
study time). Whether in the form of a written contract or verbal
agreement, getting a direct student commitment to the plan is
crucial to successful completion.
Step
4: Action - intervention and referral. The
action step consists of implementing the plan. For an advisor
this may involve directly facilitating the intervention and follow-up
or it may involve referring a student to a counselor (or another
academic/service office). Both intervening and referring are active
processes. In this section we raise some additional factors advisors
can consider about whether to engage in intervention or referral,
and we end with some thoughts about how to accomplish a successful
referral.
It
is in the action step that the distinction between advising and
counseling becomes most important. We acknowledge that definitive
delineations between advisors and counselors are not always possible.
Differences between institutions, job definitions and requirements,
advisor training and skill all contribute to some ambiguity between
the two roles. While there are identifiable areas of overlap in
the function of advisors and counselors, each has a unique purpose
and role in working with students (Butler, 1995). Kuhn, Gordon
& Weber (2006) address this demarcation issue by describing
five levels of interaction: information advising, explanatory
advising, developmental advising, mentoring, and personal counseling.
These five areas are seen not as discrete categories but as a
continuum from simple to complex, from topical-subject oriented
to personal-individual oriented.
Advisors
are a key point of contact for students as they develop along
their academic path. However, for advisors to become involved
in the more in-depth and chronic personal factors of students
can be detrimental to both advisors and advisees. It can result
in a loss of objectivity, which can hamper an advisor from carrying
out advising responsibilities. For example, attending to the emotional
component of a student’s hardship may impede aiding him or her
in the development of a meaningful educational plan. Furthermore,
if advisors take on issues that require more intensive counseling,
they inadvertently stand in the way of students seeking further
services that they may need to achieve long-term solutions.
Besides
being a disservice to students, stretching the advisor role too
far makes advisors vulnerable to burn out. Advisors can use their
subjective experience of stress as one barometer of students’
needs. Emotional, mental, physical, and occupational exhaustion
can be signs that advisors are engaged in ways that go beyond
their expected role. This may call for a re-evaluation of whether
students should be referred to counseling. In the meantime, advisors
can engage in self-care strategies that promote resiliency on
a mental, physical, and spiritual level to combat a "fatigue
reaction" (Stebnicki, 2007). Norcross and Guy (2007) provide
a practical discussion of how professionals can attend to their
bodies, minds, and souls at and away from the office.
In
taking action, we encourage advisors to be aware of personal triggers
of distress. Advisors are exposed to a range of students’ stories
of trauma, disability, mental and physical illness, grief, and
loss. When advisees present with issues that touch on advisors’
personal wounds or lead towards vicarious traumatization, these
are legitimate reasons to refer students to another professional
for services. In sum, the decision of whether to intervene or
refer is based on factors related to both the student and the
advisor (e.g., role responsibilities and personal triggers).
The
Referral Process
The
referral process is an art. Its foundation is built prior to deciding
whether and where to refer a student, and consists of a network
of interrelationships with student services and resources. This
network will likely be in flux and continue to evolve over time.
Advisors should have a good understanding of the various offices
and organizations available to students within and beyond the
institutional setting. These may include Student Life, Counseling
Services, Women’s Center, Housing, Health Center, Disability Services,
police, religious organizations, community counseling, psychiatric
services, emergency shelters, Community Crisis Center, medical
services, nutritionists, alcohol and drug services, community
religious centers (churches, synagogues, mosques), Veterans Affairs,
adoption services, children’s services, etc. Advisors will benefit
from maintaining relationships with point-people for these resources
when possible. This provides a network for consulting about student
concerns and facilitates more accurate and confident referrals
with better follow-up.
When
an advisor deems it appropriate to refer to a counselor, it is
important to consider how to communicate this to the student.
First off, if a student has reached out to an advisor and shared
personal information, he or she may be particularly vulnerable
to a sense of rejection. Thus, it may be helpful to verbalize
that a referral does not stem from the advisor’s lack of desire
to work with the student. The advisor can help to explain the
nature of counseling and why it may be beneficial to the student.
Table 3 provides information that can be tailored to the individual
student in discussing the idea of counseling. Orienting students
to counseling services helps to shape realistic expectations and
allay fears or biases they may have.
We
recommend taking caution to avoid conceptualizing or presenting
counseling as a punishment. This may be particularly relevant
when working with students with academic or behavioral problems.
Any disciplinary action should be a separate consideration from
a recommendation to pursue counseling. Consistent with the prior
discussion of stages of change, mandated counseling is often not
a fertile ground for progress.
A
final and important component of the referral process is following
up. It is helpful to develop a plan with the student about what
the follow up will look like. Will the advisor contact counseling
services directly to share information about the situation? Will
the advisor and student meet again after the student’s initial
counseling contact? Making the plan overt helps to create a sense
of accountability for future follow-up. Additionally, being transparent
helps to lay the foundation for problem-solving any complications
that may arise.
It
is possible that advisors may experience a sense of helplessness
or guilt when faced with the need to refer students elsewhere.
We encourage advisors to consult with colleagues, engage in self-care,
and seek additional support if necessary. Advisors are crucial
to student success. Performing their unique function within the
academic community requires they know when and how to share responsibility
with counselors. Referring students to counseling services is
one key in allowing advisors to focus on what they do best.
Table
3: Sample scripts for orienting students to counseling
Open
a discussion about counseling |
College
can be a really stressful time. It seems like the problems
you are facing right now might not go away on their own.
Your usual ways of handing problems may not be working anymore.
Experiencing [anxiety/stress; low-self confidence; relationship
difficulties; self-defeating behaviors; academic problems;
sexual identity questions; decision- making dilemmas; depressed
feelings; difficulty adjusting to college; lack of emotional
support, alcohol or drug use; eating issues; sexual problems;
abuse] is a concern for a lot of students. The folks over
at counseling services are trained to help students with
these types of issues. |
Explain
what counseling is |
Counseling
is a chance to talk about your concerns with a trained professional.
Students work together with their counselor to identify
the problems they want to address and work towards solutions.
A counselor can help you learn skills and consider different
ways of looking at situations so that you will be more capable
of solving problems on your own. |
Highlight
the benefits of counseling for the specific student |
Counseling
can help you to…
…work
towards a resolution of personal issues
…understand
your behaviors/feelings/relationships
…gain
more control over your thoughts/feelings
…learn
how to cope better with your stressors
…manage
your anxiety
…adjust
to loss (death, relationships, job)
…increase
your self-understanding
…clarify
choices and make decisions
…learn
to be more assertive
…learn
relaxation techniques
…deal
with eating concerns
…deal
with drug/alcohol issues
…increase
your self-esteem
…work
on academic concerns (text anxiety, study skills)
…improve
your performance at school
…improve
communication (with parents, faculty, friends, roommates)
…improve
your interpersonal skills
…develop
healthier relationships
…grapple
with gender issues
…cope
with trauma (sexual assault, violence)
…have
accountability for making changes
…identify
your personal strengths
…experience
personal growth
…get
more satisfaction out of life
|
Demystify
counseling and dispel misconceptions |
Counseling
is not…
…a
quick fix or easy solution. It takes time and effort. To
make real change may require some commitment to counseling.
…a
place where someone will tell you what to do or make decisions
for you
…a
punishment |
Respond
to students’ concerns |
Concern
|
Possible
response |
|
I
don’t know if counseling is for me |
-Counseling
involves the concerns and problems of normal students.
-Lots
of students use Counseling Services. [You can share the
percentage of students who seek counseling at your university].
-It
is your choice whether to go to counseling and you are free
to end it when you like.
-There
is no set length of time for counseling. Sometimes a one-time
consultation or a couple of sessions can be helpful. Other
times longer counseling is really beneficial.
-If
you feel uncertain about whether counseling is for you,
you can make an appointment and discuss your reservations
with a counselor. |
|
I’m
concerned about what others will think |
-Counselors
listen without criticism or judgment
-Counseling
happens in a safe and private setting
-You
don’t have to tell [your parent, significant other, friends]
that you are seeing a counselor
-All
counseling is confidential. Your counselor won’t talk to
[your parent, professor, and advisor] unless you give them
written permission. |
|
I’m
nervous about going to counseling |
-Counselors
try to make you comfortable -- they know that students are
often nervous about coming in.
-Would
you like me to walk you over to counseling services to show
you where it’s located and what it’s like inside? |
References
Butler,
E. R. (1995). Counseling and advising: A continuum of services.
In R. E. Glennen & F. N. Vowell (Eds.), Academic advising
as a comprehensive campus process (Monograph No. 2,107–114).
Manhattan, KS: National Academic Advising Association.
Callis,
R. (1965). Diagnostic classification as a research tool. Journal
of Counseling Psychology,
12 , 238-243 .
Cooper,
J. F. (1995). A primer of brief psychotherapy. New York: Norton.
Ender,
S. & Newton, F.B. (2000). Students helping students. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Fassaert,
T., van Dulmen, S., Schellevis, F.; Bensing, J. (2007). Active
listening in medical
consultations: Development of the Active Listening Observation
Scale (ALOS-global). Patient Education and
Counseling , 68 , 258-264.
Kim,
E., Newton, F. B., Downey, R. & Benton, S. ( In press ). Personal
factors impacting college
student success: Constructing College
Learning Effectiveness Inventory (CLEI),
College Student Journal.
Kuhn,
T., Gordon, V. N., & Webber, J. ( 2006).
The Advising and Counseling Continuum:Triggers
for Referral. NACADA Journal, 26 , 24-31.
Miller,
W. R. & Rollnick, S. (2002 ). Motivational interviewing:
Preparing people for change
. New York: Guilford.
Norcross,
J.C. & Guy, J.D. (2007). Leaving it at the office: A guide
to psychotherapist self-care
. New York: Guilford Press.
Prochaska,
J. O., Norcross, J., & DiClemente, C. C. (1994). Changing
for Good: The Revolutionary Program That Explains the Six Stages
of Change and Teaches You How
to Free Yourself from Bad Habits .
New York: William Morrow & Co.
Sannes,
A. (2008). CLEI usage at Concordia College: Case study. Unpublished
manuscript. Available at http://www.k-cat.org/docs/Concordia_CLEI_CaseStudy.pdf
Stebnicki,
M. A. (2007). Empathy fatigue: Healing the mind, body, and spirit
of professional counselors. American Journal of Psychiatric
Rehabilitation, 10 , 317 - 338.
Weinstein,
C. (1987). LASSI user's manual for those administering the
Learning and Study
Strategies Inventory.
Clearwater, FL: H & H Publishing Company, Inc.
Cite
the above resource using APA style as:
Krumrei,
E.J. and Newton, F.B. (2009). The
Puzzle of College Students Success: Fitting the Counseling and
Advising Pieces Together. Retrieved -insert today's date- from
the NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources
Web site: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Clearinghouse/M02/Counsel.htm
