This one goes out to Flinders staff! Alerting you to the Responding to Students in Distress training that is available now via iEnrol.
I spent this morning browsing the new Responding to Students in Distress online module on Canvas.
It is targeted to staff who want to learn more about their responsibilities in supporting students during difficult times.
It covers things like your role and responsibilities, support protocols, relevant supports and contacts, core conversation skills, reporting requirements, duty of care, and managing your own wellbeing.
The course is well put together, having been adapted from RMIT’s Protocols for assisting distressed students: Essentials.
It is quick to complete, unambiguous in its recommendations and personally I found it a good reminder of basic caring protocols (and that is coming from someone who should already be very familiar with them in the first place!).
You can access it via a slightly convoluted process starting from the iEnrol page. Keep mashing buttons and checking for email confirmations until you arrive at the Canvas topic itself.
Courses like this one recognise that University is a high-pressure environment, for both students and staff.
While we all have our jobs to do, we are a community, and courses like this one invite us to care for that community and the people in it.
On a related note: Flinders staff who would like to learn more about supporting student wellbeing/mental health, I will be giving a rambling (possibly incoherent) presentation as part of the First Year Community of Practice next Monday 20th May where I will be exploring the larger topic of how we as educators can better build wellbeing and mental health practices into our topics and teaching.
To join the FYCOP mailing list, email grace.chipperfield@flinders.edu.au and then get the details of the meeting itself.
Students: want to learn more about supporting the mental health of your peers? Consider signing up for Mental Health First Aid in Semester 2.