Melissa,
We need to be careful not to diagnose student.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Absolutely! Students, in one way or another, will need encouragement, guidance and a good pep talk at times. Many times they also may have a serious mental health issue that has been left unattended due to financial strains. Educators can help a student identify issues and seek assistance through the Student Services Department.
Patricia,
You make a good point. We should offer advise and refer student to counselors. Some schools employ them. Others contract with companies to provide these services.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Yes, I believe we are. We have to be careful, though because most of us are not counselors. While it is okay to encourage students to persevere, we must know when they need more help and refer them to other resources.
Kathleen,
What are the areas that are not academic that you and your teammates have to address the most often?
Jeffrey Schillinger
I do agree because we are educating the whole student not just their acedemic side. They have so much going on it is our duty to support and advise them as best we can without over-stepping our bounds.
Yes, because education fundamentally changes who we are. It opens our minds and reshapes our worldview. Educators quite often play the role of change agent. A student may begin and end their time at school a completely different person.
Daisy,
"Engage, encourage, and enlite each student" is a pretty good philosophy. What are some specific things you do to accomplish these things?
Jeffrey Schillinger
A few life lessons I have learned are never give up on a student, talk about your own personal experiences with the students good or bad and personally for me it is important to connect with the student no matter what. Engage, encourage, and enlite each student.
Disagree, emphatically. I can help them to zero in on what's holding them back (HABE), focus on vision, mentor and facilitate their process as it relates to the curriculum. Their success within the learning objectives and their overall retention and matriculation into a career is our product. I am not here to assume, diagnose, personally advise, hold up a mirror to, give therapy to, social work or any other such line crossing action. If a student actually has life and personal issues outside the confines of our "product" they need to seek out a person or an organization whose product is mental health, financial planning or therapy.
At some points during a course, no matter its length, some students will demonstrate or express that they are undergoing what we might safely characterize as “mental health†issues, so, yes, we are in both the education and mental health business. The mental health issues students display can be mild, moderate, or severe and a variety of factors might cause them: financial stress, domestic abuse, strained relationships, family illnesses, etc. As instructors, we are qualified to express concern and attempt to gauge if the student is in need of professional assistance. We should not, however, try to diagnose and treat any student who seems to be under psychological or emotional strain. Rather, if we think we have a student suffering from genuine mental health issues, we should notify our superiors and direct the student to appropriate counseling services.
Mark A. Coppelli
Daisy,
What are the most important "life ;essons" you have addressed this term?
Jeffrey Schillinger
Yes are in more than one business. My primary job would be educating the students on kitchen saftey and understanding baking, On top of this we also educate on life lessons and expectations, we participate with professional growth as leaders and we enchance our technical skills. I guess you could say we are teachers, counslers, Business managers, and possibly a life coach. I enjoy my job becasue of the many aspects of this job.
Some career educators state that in addition to being in the education business, we are also in the "mental health" business. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
I absolutely agree! Many of my students have had life experiences that have shaped who and what they are today. They take theses experiences
with them everywhere they go. This includes my classroom. I have found a majority of these experiences have left the student with a negative outlook on life and themselves.
If a student believes, based on past experiences, that they will fail then they more than likely will fail. As part of my job, I try to change the “I can’t†to “I canâ€. On the flip side some students are afraid of success and inadvertently sabotage themselves and their education. If we can try to figure out the student’s beliefs and their attitude toward success, education, and themselves we can help them create a new vision and a new self-image.
According to the World Health Organization “Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. In this positive sense, mental health is the foundation for individual well-being and the effective functioning of a community.†I believe part of our job is to assist our students in realizing his/her own abilities and how to balance their responsibilities in life. If a student can master these two goals, they can and will succeed in their program of study and their career of choice.
Mental health: strengthening our response. (n.d.). World Health Organization.
Retrieved March 29, 2012, from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs220/en/
Jorge,
Great points. Sometimes we focus on what we like and what motivates us when it is about the students.
Jeffrey Schillinger
As an instructor I find that I have to use some psychology to understand and evaluate the incentives that drive each student, the beliefs or habits that might hinder them and how to best approach these to in order ultimately motivate them on their path. Each student is different and an approach that works with one might not with another.
Good observation, Lawrence. What are some things your college does to mitigate the impact of difficult outside circumstances?
Jeffrey Schillinger
I very much agree. So many of our students have difficult home lifes. Most times, it is the affective domain and not the intellectual domain why they drop out.
I agree whole heartedly that we are in the "mental health" business. Many students are very young and away from home for the first time or don't have a support system in place in the event they need life direction.
We educate the whole person.
In a way, I am hesitant to say that we are in the 'mental health' business with our students, mostly because of the title, 'mental health', but there is some truth to this.
In part, we are there to facilitate our students, to guide them along their educational path--but just with any path, there are obstacles. These may not be obstacles that one can perceive in the course room, unless the student has been absent for some time, or has suffered a drop in a grade, but the truth of the matter is that when this happens, our students depend on us. I say this, because it is our job to 'reel the student back in', to find out, 'what's really going on'--and perhaps this is where the 'mental' aspect comes in. After all, as our class notes say, by embracing the Edu Preneurial spirit, includes keeping our students happy, and addressing their needs.
When a student encounters an obstacle, they need direction, a vision, that keeps them motivated to continue in their educational path. If this means talking to the student and getting to know them, we can better address their needs and expectations.
So in a way, we are in the 'mental health' business to a certain degree--by finding strategies that can assist our students succeed.
Cheers
Dr. E. Somnarain
