Procedures for Student Crisis (front line staff in Castlegar)

There will be times when a student “in crisis” or “emotional distress” will need to see a counsellor. The student may appear at the Student Services area or Counselling office on his or her own, or contact may be made by an instructor on behalf of the student. If an instructor or student phones, ask the individual to bring the student in crisis to the Counselling office, and immediately begin to implement the procedure for student crisis. Such situations are best handled in a calm but expeditious manner. It is recommended that the following procedure be followed whenever possible:

Procedure

If the student is in obvious emotional distress and if a private space is available, ask the student if he or she would like to sit in a vacant office until a counsellor is available.
Contact a Counsellor (Laurie Read or Tami O'Meara) immediately, stating that a student is in a crisis situation and needs to see a counsellor right away. Since crisis intervention can involve a fair amount of time, it may be necessary to cancel and reschedule any appointments or meetings scheduled over the next one to two hours.
If a counsellor is in a counselling session or meeting, then please interrupt that activity in order to notify the counsellor of the crisis situation. The counsellor would then stop doing what he or she is doing in order to see the student. The exception would be in those instances where the counsellor is already dealing with a student who is in emotional distress.
If no counsellor is immediately available then the following may apply:

a. In some circumstances the student might accept an appointment during “drop-in” time, and drop-in could be eliminated for that day. It is important to notify the counsellor that this has occurred.

b. In some circumstances the student might accept an appointment later in the same day when a counsellor is available (such as in those situations when the counsellor is off campus in the morning but will be back in the afternoon, has gone for lunch, is presently seeing another student who is in emotional distress, etc.). To fit the student in, it may be necessary to cancel and reschedule other appointments or activities. The counsellor should be notified that scheduling has occurred for a student in crisis.

c. If the counsellor is not available immediately but will be within a short time and the student is in emotional distress, then an individual may wish to stay with the student in a vacant office until the counsellor is available.

d. If the counsellors are not available on the Castlegar campus, then, in some situations, counselling assistance over the telephone could be appropriate. Phone Robin Higgins at the Nelson Campus. Be sure to inform the phone receptionist that this is an emergency situation and it is necessary to talk to the counsellor right away. Briefly explain the situation to the counsellor before putting the student on the phone.

e. If the counsellors are not available, either because he or she is with another student who is in emotional distress or no counsellors are on campus, and the student needs to see someone immediately, then an individual from the list below should be contacted. The individual should be asked to come to the counselling office area to see the student. A vacant office can be used or the individual may wish to take the student back to his or her office. (If the individual cannot come down to the Counselling area then someone should accompany the student to the faculty member’s office.)

f. If no one from Step E above is available, then the student could be asked if:

i. he or she knows of anyone else on campus who could be of assistance.

ii. he or she knows of anyone else in the community (family, relatives, or community agencies) who could be of assistance. The student should be offered assistance in contacting external resources (i.e., help student phone crisis line directly). (See attached sheet for phone numbers of community agencies).

Notes:

The above assumes that the student is unwilling to accept the next available appointment. In some cases, the student’s “crisis” is such that a regularly scheduled appointment later in the week is appropriate.
An option for the student who is willing to come back in the next day or two, but there are no appointment times available, is to cancel the drop-in times for that day and schedule the student for a counselling appointment at that time.
Attempting to define “in crisis” or “emergency” is not easy. If appropriate, perhaps the student could be asked, “Is this the kind of emergency situation in which I should interrupt the counsellor and tell him that you are here?” or “Is this the type of situation that could wait until the next available appointment time?”

INTERNAL RESOURCE PERSONNEL

The following individuals have been identified as possible resource personnel who could be asked to assist the College Counsellors on the Castlegar Campus should additional resources be required:

Robin Higgins (Counsellor, Nelson) 250-352-6601
Rhonda Schmitz extension 327
Deb Wandler extension 362
Kay Armstrong extension 502