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Counseling and Personal Development
Student affairs
professionals must have the ability to relate with
students and other professionals from a variety of
backgrounds. They need to be able to assess the
holistic developmental and personal needs of the
students they interact with, as well as help students
learn and grow in these areas during their college
experience. Apart from walking alongside of students in
their developmental and personal learning, a student
affairs professional also needs to know how and when to
refer students to other student services offices
available to benefit them in their overall development.
Accountability/Judicial Meetings with Students
Opportunities for
Relationships and Counseling with Residents
1-1's with My Student Staffs (Community Advisors at Cal Poly Pomona, FHS
and Resident Advisors at Azusa Pacific University)
Strengths Counseling
Meetings with Counselor from University Counseling
Center
Accountability/Judicial
Meetings with Students:
At both Cal Poly Pomona,
Foundation Housing Service and Azusa Pacific University,
I consistently have had the opportunity to meet with
students regarding their behaviors. Though these
meetings often take place to deal with violations of
school policy, I make an effort to get to know the
students personally and seek to find out reasons behind
why they may act out. I hope to create an environment
where students can feel comfortable to share their
stories, be who they are, and ask questions openly; I
understand the importance of keeping what they say
confidential except from my boss and possibly the
counseling center if the student needs help. By talking
with students about whatever incident caused them to
meet with me, I hope to challenge them to learn how to
make wise decisions. In the sanctions that I assign for
students, my desire is to provide them with
opportunities giving them a chance to evaluate their
behaviors and think about what they value. I want
sanctions to be beneficial for the personal and
educational development of students. I also seek to
view students as individuals, recognizing that every
student is different and brings unique characteristics
to the table. As I meet with students, I never want to
place them in a box or assume why they act as they do;
rather, I want to give them the opportunity to share
their own values and beliefs with me. Though I do not
always agree with my students, I work hard to value them
as individuals while challenging them to see the
importance of adhering to school policy. Below are some
of the examples of sanctions that I have developed
during my time as an RD; I hope they show that I look at
students as individuals and work hard to find sanctions
that truly benefit their overall development.
Sanction
Examples
Opportunities for
Relationships and Counseling with Residents:
As an RD, I serve as the first
response person in crisis situations both in my living
area and within other living areas on campus. Crisis
situations may include medical emergencies, severe
eating disorders, fights, suicidal students, and many
other things (I have dealt with all of these
situations). In my role as the crisis responder, I work
directly with the students involved - students who may
gather to see what is going on, the student in crisis,
and any friends that may be involved in the situation.
Often, these situations require me to counsel and guide
students. In the following paragraph, I will provide an
example from the many times that I have dealt with
students in crisis that I feel best illustrates my
ability to work with and counsel students in crisis.
During my first year as an RD
at APU, one of the students in my building was killed in
a car accident. This incident had a tremendous affect
on the community of my living area. After letting the
appropriate people know of the situation, I talked with
the residents in my building, went with my RA to tell
the residents of her wing, and led meetings for
residents in my building to talk about their feelings
and the overall effect of the accident and death. A lot
of my work with students required me to facilitate an
environment in which they could feel comfortable simply
coming and questioning or coming and crying. I set up a
meeting place in the lobby where students could assemble
to talk and pray. I talked with the woman's roommate
and made sure she was taken care of during this time. I
met with the student's friends to simply comfort them
and give them a safe place to be broken. I also worked
closely with my RA, giving her a place to breakdown,
talk, process how to deal with the situation, etc.
Overall, I simply made myself available during this
time. This was an instance that I would never wish on
anyone. Yet, I know God worked in amazing ways during
this time to grow my own understanding of counseling and
being available to students. He also worked in the
community of students in my building.
1-1's
with My Student Staffs
(Community Advisors at Cal Poly Pomona, FHS and Resident
Advisors at Azusa Pacific University):
One of the favorite parts of my
RD job is the 1-1s that I get to have with my student
staff. Every week, I meet with my staff members one on
one to discuss work related issues and personal growth.
In these meetings, I often talk with my staff about very
personal subjects. Though we do talk about work related
concerns, a majority of the meeting consists of talking
through personal issues, questions, and concerns that my
CAs/RAs are working through in life. As I interact with
my students on a consistent basis, I build a rapport
with them and work hard to create a relationship of
trust. It has been such a blessing and encouragement
for me to watch walls come down when my staff members
reach a breakthrough point of opening up. While at Cal
Poly Pomona, one of my staff members called me crying
one night and shared that he had been raped. Another of
my staff members asked a lot of questions about my
lifestyle and therefore my faith in Christ; we had many
intense conversations about who God is and how He cares
for people. At APU, I have worked with an RA who was in
the midst of extreme family problems; she used the
meetings that we had to process her feelings and
ultimately came to a starting place of allowing healing
to occur in her life.
My times with my CAs/RAs have
also allowed me to partner with other offices on campus
by referring several of my students to offices such as
the Counseling Center, the Career Center, the
Multi-Ethnic Programs office, and the Health Center. I
have come to greatly value the resources that these
offices can have in the lives of students.
See "Pictures"
section to see photos of RAs and
CAs
Notes from CAs and RAs
Strengths Counseling:
For the Counseling II class in
the CSA program, we learned about strengths based
counseling. This theory of counseling looks at the
strengths that people possess and works to build on them
rather than fixing weaknesses. While taking this class,
I had the opportunity to meet with a student at Cal Poly
Pomona and counsel her on her strengths and giftedness.
In order to start the counseling, I asked her to take
the StrengthsQuest test and come prepared to our first
meeting ready to discuss her strengths. During our
meetings, we talked about how her strengths influenced
her academics, personal life, and various
relationships. As we talked about her strengths and
how they can be used, she came to the conclusion that
she was in the wrong field of study. At the time of our
meetings, she was an engineering major, but the majority
of her strengths focused on working with and relating to
people. As we talked about them and what her passions
for life were, she became aware that she needed to make
a significant change in her life. As a result of this
counseling, she decided to switch her major from
engineering to elementary education. Her excitement
level for school changed drastically as she began to
embrace how she was created. It was as if a huge weight
had been lifted from her shoulders because of her
decision to change her major.
Through these counseling
meetings and my own exploration of the strengths based
theory, I have become an advocate for this type of
counseling. I saw the energy it produced not only in my
own life, but in the lives of others. There is
something very special about building on what people are
naturally good at and encouraging them to approach life
within the framework of their strengths!
Strengths Counseling Outline
StrengthsQuest
Information
Meetings with Counselor from
University Counseling Center:
Because of the nature of my
job, I think that it is important for me to maintain on
on-going relationship with the University Counseling
Center (UCC) at APU. As a means of doing this, I meet
with a counselor from the University Counseling Center
approximately every three weeks. During our meetings,
we talk about ways that our offices can support one
another as well as build up our personal friendship.
These meetings have provided me a safe place where I can
ask questions about how to approach various situations
and get an unbiased opinion. I have also grown in my
understanding of how to support the UCC as a member of
another office on campus.
APU
Counseling Center
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