Helping Skills Case Study

Aresia Smith

Student Development Administration, Seattle University

Erin Hooyboer, MAEd, LMHC

COUN 5050: Helping Skills for Student Development

May 22, 2023

 Case Presentation Action Plan

You:

You have been working at Seattle University for three years as a Student Activities

Coordinator. This is your first job after graduate school. You have a master’s degree in student

development administration. In your job, you supervise 10 different clubs/ organizations on

campus. You enjoy getting to know the students in the clubs and organizations that you

supervise. Through your job, you are able to create lasting relationships and the students feel

comfortable coming to you with any issues that may arise for them personally, academically, and

within their club.

Student:

Andrea Johnson (she, her, hers) is a sophomore at Seattle University. She is bisexual and

cisgendered. She is 20 years old and an engineering student. Andrea is a black student and also a

first-generation college student. Andrea is very active on campus. She is involved in her

Residence Hall’s Hall Council, Black Student Union, Engineering Society, Knitting Club and

Campus Ministry. Andrea is a social butterfly and has made lots of friends through her residence

hall, clubs, and class. She also has talked about taking on leadership roles in the future during her

junior and senior years. Andrea likes to spend her free time in between classes sitting in the

Student Activities Office. Andrea also just started a new part-time job in the dining hall to make

extra money.

Case:

You are in your office and see Andrea walk into the office. You have not seen her in a

week and a half, and you and your coworker thought that was odd. Andrea goes to sit on the
couch and gets on her laptop, instead of going to say hello to everyone in the office like she

normally does. She seems more tired than usual. You go up to Andrea planning to make small

talk. As you are talking to Andrea, you notice that she seems more distant and shorter than she

normally is. You ask how she had been doing and she asked if we can go to your office to talk.

As you and Andrea sit down, she begins to cry for a few minutes. You hand her some

tissues. When she finishes, she explains that she started Seattle University on a full academic

scholarship. During freshmen year, she lost her scholarship due to grades last year. She is now

having to pay tuition on her own, because her parents can’t afford to help. She has also taken

extra shifts to make more money for tuition but can only work 20 hours due to Seattle

University’s rule about students working on campus. She is stressed out about money and thinks

that she will have to drop out because she can’t afford to continue here. She does not want to

leave because she has made so many friends, but at the same time she is always feeling drained

with plans to hang out with friends. She also tells you that she hasn’t been sleeping or eating

well, because she is working and studying so much.

Resources:

As you are talking to Andrea, you are giving space for her to talk and vent to you. You are

making eye contact, nodding, open body posture, and validating her feelings. You also hand her

tissues for nose. After she finished talking, she asked for your advice on what she can do. You

offer a few different resources.

- Dimension of Wellness: Physical- recognizing the need for physical activity, healthy

foods, and sleep

 o Food Pantry: You pull up the website and learn about it together. The food

pantry is located in the Office of Multicultural Affairs in the Pavilion 180. On

the website, it says that walk-ins are available but may have a waiting time.

So, you ask Andrea if she would like to make an order form or do a walk in.

She says she would like to do the order form. So, you complete one together

and decide that she will pick it up after her last class tomorrow. You make sure

to tell her about the one bag limit per week. I also give her Gabby Rios’ email

for extra questions that she may have later.

o Self Care Routine before Bed: you ask about her bedtime routine, and she

says that she doesn’t have one. She normally gets on her phone before bed,

falls asleep while scrolling on TikTok around 1 or 2 am. You tell her that the

blue light in your phone keeps you awake for longer. You ask her what time

she would want to be sleep by. She answers with 11 because she has an 8 am

and wants to be awake for it. From there, you are able to come with a plan that

she begins to shower, wash her face and brush her teeth by 9:30 pm. By 10 or

10:15 pm, she is in bed and on TikTok for 15-30 minutes. Then she turns on

rain or soft sounds and focuses on those sounds through mediation until she

falls asleep.

- Dimension of Wellness: Financial- satisfaction with current and future financial

situations

o Financial Aid Office: You also look up information on the financial aid

office. It is located in Vi Hilbert Hall on the north side of campus. As you are

scrolling through the website, you both decide that Jenna Mohls is the best
 person for Andrea to talk to because she handles student employment and is a

financial aid counselor. Therefore, they would be able to talk about her job on

campus and other job opportunities, like Residential Hall Association,

Resident Advisors, or other jobs that have benefits on campus. They are also

able to help negotiate their financial aid package. You help her email Jenna

with the problem and send the times that Andrea is able to meet.

o Budgeting: Next, you switch over to how Andrea is spending money.

Together, you make an excel spreadsheet and ask her how much money she

makes from her part time job. You then ask her about her needs like bills, or

tuition. First, you find out that she is trying to pay tuition whole by the end of

the quarter. You ask if she is on a payment plan and Andrea asks what that is.

You explain and show her in my.seattleu how to set that up and you do it

together. You then track her expenses and decide on how much she should

spend on free time. You also talk to her about moving to a cheaper residence

hall, like Xavier, Campion, or Bellarmine. Lastly, you tell her to start thinking

about housing for next year because it will be more expensive as a junior and

not required to live on campus.

- Dimension of Wellness: Emotional- coping effectively with life and creating

satisfying relationships

o Setting Boundaries: You ask Andrea to recall the budget that we just made

and ask realistically what she could do with her going out budgets. What are

some alternatives to going out? You also go over ways to say no to her friends
 asking her to go out or hang out. You and Andrea also create a self-care ritual

that will make up for not going out with friends.

o Counseling and Psychological Services: Lastly, you and Andrea look up

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). They are located in the

Pavilion and Andrea decides that they could be useful in learning to manage

stress. You find the number online and Andrea decides to call right then to try

and set up an appointment. She is able to set up an appointment for 2 months

away, so you continue to look for options. The person who made her

appointment offered that Andrea try Timely Care. Timely Care is a part of her

tuition and can receive 12 “free” meetings with counselors a year, 24/7.

Andrea makes an account and schedules a meeting later in the day after she

gets off work.

After making a plan with Andrea, she looks more relieved than she was when she came

in. She is smiling and thanks you for taking the time to talk with you and make a plan. She says

that she has to get to class, but she would see you tomorrow for lunch and tell you how her

Timely Care meeting went.

Personal Meaning Making of Dimension of Wellness

The three dimensions that I chose are physical, financial, and emotional. As a student, I

feel that as an undergraduate student and graduate student, I have always struggled with these

dimensions. Like most students, I think I have dealt with all of the dimensions, but these have

been the most prominent.

 For me, physical has always been an issue for me. I love food and eating out and highly

dislike vegetables. I also highly dislike exercise and either sleep too much or not enough. It is

something that I am slowly trying to figure out for myself. For financial, I never had a job until

my senior year of undergraduate and had the ability to buy what I wanted (i.e food and junk

food). This is my first time understanding what my spending habits look like and learning to

budget myself and also learning to save my money. Lastly, for emotional, this is my first time

living alone in an apartment. I am having to learn to make friends within my job, but also setting

boundaries with my co-workers/classmates. I am also learning to enjoy my own company and

also learning to step out of my comfort zone and meet new people that are not involved with

Seattle University.

By understanding how I am interacting with different dimensions, I can understand how

the students that I am aiming to serve are also interacting with the dimensions of wellness. While

they are in different stages of learning, I can understand what they are experiencing and offer

solutions or ways to help them where they find themselves to be lacking. Working in housing has

helped me understand the first- and second-year population and has also made me reminisce

about my undergraduate experience.

Lastly, I think this is something that I can use in my supervision of student leaders. Most

student leaders have a goal and idea of what they want their community to look like and what

they want to gain from leading their community. A lot of the time, they lose focus on why they

are here and what they need as a student and most of all, a person. One thing that we do in

housing is emphasize the importance of being a person first, student second, and a Resident

Assistant third. I think it has shown them that we, as supervisors, care about them beyond their

jobs and are also there for them in whatever they need. By having this mentality, I have had
student staff (RAs) ask my opinion on some of their life changing decisions and confide in me

about personal issues and ask for my help. In turn, my supervisors also do the same for us as

graduate students and in positions of leadership. It has made a difference on if I would’ve kept

this job in housing and stayed in the program. I have felt supported, and I hope that I have made

all my student leaders feel as supported, as I do.

Case impacts of my Sense of Vitality in the Profession

I think when I was writing this, I saw pieces of myself in what she was experiencing. I

may have exaggerated or used things I have seen in other people, but ultimately it was all things

that impact students. I think, personally, I have seen examples of some of these things in the

students that I supervise and students I have worked with in graduate and undergraduate. I think

for me, it shows that we are all going through something that may impact our ability to focus on

school and homework. No one has a perfect experience without challenges, whether it’s a

roommate or friend, academics, or financial problems.

All students are learning to work through their problems. The only difference is that some

students may not have the support from family or supporters like some students. Some students

may be dealing with these problems alone. I feel that in housing we see a lot of students suffer in

silence until it boils over, and it becomes a crisis. My goal and what keeps me going is being able

to be there for students when they don’t feel that no one is there for them. It may stress me out,

but it is what keeps me going. I think it is the understanding that I can’t sustain myself in

housing, but being able to create relationships through my role with students and student leaders

is what has been so amazing working in housing. It has also helped me find my passion in

working with student leaders and being able to help them accomplish their goals.