ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF BOTH COORDINATORS AND ADVISORS

There are some roles and responsibilities that must be performed by both Coordinators and Advisors. Our overreaching goal and purpose is to provide an environment that supports entry, retention, and completion for Aboriginal students. A big part of this is to deal with students’ fears and concerns, to work with students when crises threaten to interrupt their education, to intervene when appropriate, and to take care of ourselves so that we can carry on to serve the next student or meet the next situation.

The journey from the time that students enter our institutions to when they leave can sometimes present huge challenges for both the student and the Advisor or Coordinator. As you are probably aware, many of the students that we work with are learning for the first time about the history of Aboriginal and Settler relations in Canada. Some of the students that we serve are survivors of the Residential School system, many have grown up having very negative experiences with school in general, and many have experienced racism. Some may also feel a sense of displacement, dislocation, and lack of identity. When personal issues such as these surface, they are often accompanied by a range of emotions and feelings such as, sadness, anger, fear, and sometimes rage. Sorrow, confusion, or anger that they didn’t know they carried within them begins to surface and this can send students into crisis.

Students often need support when dealing with their feelings and emotions and they need to do some healing. They will find their way to your office and you may spend hours just listening while they sort through their thoughts and feelings. Some institutions have First Nations Counselors that you can refer students to, but most don’t. It is so important for you to build relationships with Counselors at or near your institution so that you can feel comfortable making referrals. Often, however, when students are dealing with issues that come up for them or trigger them, it is important for them to have another First Nations person to talk to. There are times that that will be you, and you need to be ready.

Personal Wellness

It is your responsibility, your obligation to yourself and the spirit world, to become aware of all that is you, and to feed yourself, nurture yourself, and love yourself. If you wish to support others, you must start by supporting yourself.

If you have come to this work as a First Nations person you too will have experienced many of the issues we know are faced by students. It is likely that at some time in your life you have had your intelligence or integrity questioned because you are Aboriginal. It is likely that you have questioned your own identity: who you are, what you stand for. It is likely that you have experienced rage as you learned of the horrors perpetrated upon your ancestors, and it is quite possible that some of those horrors have been perpetrated on you. It is likely that you have been a target of racism. It is likely you have been denied access to dreams or goals because of your appearance or ancestry or family circumstance or systems that have been erected to keep people “like you” out.

If you have come to this work as a non-Aboriginal person you are aware or will soon become aware that people will see you as carrying the baggage of these things mentioned. That too is a difficult burden to carry.

All of this is challenging. It likely means that you have “triggers,” words, circumstances, or expressions that evoke painful emotional – sometimes physical – responses. It means that you have your tears. It means that some things make you want to fight, some things make you want to run, and some things make you want to hide. You may have developed survival skills that allow you to fight or run or hide without seeming to.

We hope that you have had the opportunity to work on your healing before you started this work. If so, you have learned or begun to learn how to work with your past and your present and your future in ways that will bring hope to you and those you serve.

Even if you have done a lot of healing work, or don’t see yourself as particularly pained by your past or your knowledge, in your work as a Coordinator or Advisor you will still come face to face with people or situations that trigger you or exhaust you.

Take care of yourself. Have a plan of self care. Pray, rest, talk, cleanse. Keep doing so.

Here are some things to think about when it comes to your own personal wellness:

• Make sure that you have strong support systems for yourself both within your institution and outside the institution.
• Arrange regular debriefing sessions with someone that you can trust, who understands who you are and what you do.
• Know what kinds of community resources are in place for healing. Go to those people or places yourself when you need to heal.
• Take time for yourself and your family.
• Treat your body well. Feed it good food, stretch it, make your heart beat. Give it sleep.
• Learn how to say no. We cannot be involved with everything without something suffering.
• Take time to renew your spirit and to practice your ceremonies.
• Give thanks to the Creator for gifts of learning, endurance, and renewal.
  

Following are the some of the very challenging situations Coordinators and Advisors face in their work.

Responding when a student is in crisis

Much of our work in this area is to provide a supportive environment for students who are in crisis, to practice good listening skills and to be able to respond in a way that is helpful and non-threatening. Our goal is to provide support and to be able to refer students to appropriate resources that will assist their situation.

• Know what counselling resources are available within your institution and within the community at large.
  
• Be aware of the process to access funding dollars for counselling support through Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB). You can get up to date information by calling 1-800-317-7878. Maintain a list of registered psychologists who are approved through NIHB.
  
• Keep appropriate members of your work team informed when a student that you are concerned about is in crisis. At the same time be conscious of confidentiality issues. Ask students’ permission whenever possible and only share what is necessary and appropriate.
  
• Assist students in dealing with administrative impacts, which often occur to students as a result of crisis. For example you may need to advocate for a student to be able to write an exam late or be granted a compassionate withdrawal because of a death in the family.
  
• Contact instructors on behalf of students who are experiencing crisis, if and when appropriate.

• Assist students who are triggered by content in course materials. Acknowledge what is happening to them and help them to work through or address their concerns with appropriate sources. If the trigger effect has resulted in course failure or other negative outcome, walk the student through processes such as grade appeals, compassionate withdrawal, or even acceptance of a learning experience. Every situation is different. You may want to work with the counselling centre or ombudsman office in these situations.
  
• Get to know the safety/security people at your institution and make sure you know how to contact security in an emergency.
  
• Be aware of the policies and practices at your institution for dealing with issues of violence and discrimination.
  
• Know your institution’s appeal and complaint processes so that you can share this information with students if necessary.
  
• Be aware of liability issues.
  
• Follow up with students who are in crisis or who are having a difficult time. Be prepared to call students at home or to meet them for coffee.
  

• Be able to sit and listen for long periods of time.
  
• Be aware that more knowledge that you can have about crisis intervention the better!
  
• Be aware of the stages of grieving to assist students who have experienced loss.
  
• Have knowledge of alternative forms of healing.
• Be aware of your “duty to report” when you suspect that a student is in danger of hurting him or herself or hurting others.
• Be aware that suicide rates in our communities are three times the national average. Suicide has no respect for economic, social or economic background.
  

Suicide

Recognize that you are quite likely to face the issue of suicide amongst the students you serve. When you are dealing with a potential or attempted suicide, seek help! (See Appendix H for guidelines on recognizing suicidal behaviors and how to respond).

• Work with your department, colleagues, and counselling centre to outline department protocol when faced with a student who is suicidal.
• Know what resources are available in your community and who the contact people are.
• Arrange workshops and have guest speakers come into the institution throughout the year to speak on suicide and other forms of crises. Exam time may be a crucial time for students.
• Have resources and information available to give to students that you are concerned about.
• Plan how to approach this topic with a student that you suspect may be suicidal.
• Expect that you may need to take control of a situation that seems to be out of control.
• Always remember that crises take priority over everything!
• Have an open-door policy for students so that they know that they can drop in when they are in need and they won't be turned away.
  

If you have the experience of having a student complete or nearly complete suicide, recognize that you will experience shock and grief. Even if you have to take a leadership role in responding to the situation, you need to find a place and space for your own feelings. Do not bottle them up or try to be “strong” for everyone else. Honour your heart.

Remember that is it very important to commemorate grief with ceremony. Know your community so that you have someone to call in difficult times.

Racism

Racism, discrimination and other forms of harassment are a reality in students’ lives. We live in a socially stratified and race-conscious society, and we have all been taught to make judgements based on skin colour and cultural identity. Anyone who claims to have never been affected by racist teachings is deluding him or herself. In one way or the other we all have been influenced by the existence of racism.

First Nations students are quite likely to come into an institution expecting to be treated in a racist manner, and for many students this expectation proves true. It may be overt and deliberately cruel. We all know students who have been taunted by fellow students for getting a “free” education or not contributing to the tax base. We know that there are people who think that First Nations people are all drunks, or stupid, or lazy, or “easy.” Some, even in our workplaces or classrooms, will openly express such beliefs. Maddening as this is, overt racism can be the easiest form to deal with. Offenders can be confronted or charged with inappropriate conduct or, in the case of staff or faculty, ethical violations.

It is the covert forms of racism that are more difficult to deal with. Students may hear things like “you’re so smart for a Native” or “how are you going to manage self-government when you can’t even agree what to call yourselves” or they may be singled out in class all the time to speak for all Aboriginal people or they might hear that it was “natural superiority” that led to “Indians” being “conquered.” Students may not know if this is intellectual curiosity, or ignorance or racism, especially if other students don’t find it offensive. You can tell students that if words or actions from others make them uncomfortable they have a right to do something about it. That may include learning how to confront those who make them feel uncomfortable or it may include having others, including you, intervene on their behalf.

If you find yourself having to deal with an issue of racism directed against a student – or against yourself – seek assistance. Some institutions have harassment or human rights officers and these people can be excellent allies. Another source of help is your First Nations Advisory Council. There are likely to be members on it who have experience dealing with such issues and they may be a great support or be able to refer you to a support. They may also be able to influence institutional practices that harm First Nations students.

If you can, use such incidents as catalysts for learning and teaching. Racism harms everyone: its victims, its perpetrators, and the environment that houses it.

Dealing with “Difficult” Students

We are guaranteed to come across students who frustrate, bewilder, and, on occasion, frighten us. We most often see these students when they are angry or in chaos. We are fully aware that students do experience racism, discrimination, and various forms of harassment, and their situation may be the result of this. When we hear complaints, we have to check the circumstances first.

But we do see students who seem to deliberately sabotage their own education, even though they continually state that they want to carry on with it. We see students who seem comfortable only when surrounded by chaos. We see students who go from worker to worker or agency to agency seeking assistance and advice but never seeming to actually use what they are given. We see students who cannot or will not acknowledge their own roles in uncomfortable or unpleasant situations. We see students whose pain is so deep that they are a trigger away from speaking or acting with violence.

We know that much of this behaviour is a reflection of the students’ pain, fears, and experienced trauma. We also know that it can be a result of intergenerational trauma. We know that students may have acquired or developed survival skills that served them in the past but are harming them now. These skills may include avoidance and learned helplessness. They may include maintaining a “small presence” in order avoid being a target. They may include blaming or shouting before one is blamed or shouted at. They may include constant vigilance and going on the offensive as soon as a situation seems threatening.

If we judge and punish students for these behaviours or demand that they stop, we are adding to the students’ collection of evidence that the world is indeed a frightening, punitive, and dangerous place. We may be telling them to abandon the only things that have kept them going so far.

But we also know that survival skills are not the same thing as living skills. We want students to move forward from merely surviving to experiencing the joy, beauty and fulfillment of learning and giving. We can be a part of guiding students to learn new approaches. An approach you can take is:

• Let the student vent. Listen carefully without interrupting or telling them what to do. Paraphrase back to them to make sure you know what they are saying and they know that you are listening to them. Validate their voice. Sometimes this is all the student needs. If they want to stop the process after this, let them.
  
• If the student wants to keep moving forward, gather or share information about the situation. Was there a way of averting it before the incident or before the circumstance became so complicated? Is there a way of resolving it through process or policy?
  
• Ask them what you can do, and they can do to address the issue. Make it clear that they have a role they have to play but you will support them as they do what it is that they need to do.
  
• Work with them to develop an action plan. Send them off to do their part. If necessary accompany them. If not, guide them on their way.
  
• Do your part. Document.
  
• Later, check in with them to let them know the result of your work. Ask them about what they did. Move forward, if necessary, with further action plans and check-ins.
  

At the same time there are some things that you will need as you go through the process, particularly with a student who is very angry at the outset:

• First, the anger is not about you. Learn ways to not take it personally. Be aware of your own triggers so that you don’t get caught up in it.
  
• Second, you are allowed to have boundaries. Students do not have the right to shout at you or touch you or threaten you. Sometimes you need to state these boundaries and if the student cannot abide by them, you may stop the process and refer the student elsewhere. If the student seems dangerous you should NOT be attempting to resolve this on your own. Connect with co-workers and the institution’s safety people before going any further.
  
• Third, debrief and cleanse. Connect with colleagues or co-workers who can let you talk about the situation. Learn to cleanse yourself of negative spiritual energy that you might have absorbed. Do the same for your surroundings or office if necessary.
  
• Fourth, see this as a learning experience and apply that learning to the next situation. Carry gratitude for the opportunity to learn.
  

This approach supports students to find new skills. Your role is to model approaches to resolution rather than to fix situations. Students may need to go through it with you two or three times before they will instigate resolution processes themselves. If students are able to learn from this, you will be providing them with a fine gift. If you learn from this, you will have greater skills and knowledge to do your work. The appearance of a “difficult” person can also be a fine gift.

However we do acknowledge that sometimes this approach does not work. Some students have negative survival skills so deeply ingrained that it takes a great deal of time and effort to work through them. Sometimes it is better that students step away from their education until they can get other issues sorted out. Sometimes they need to work through these issues with someone other than who they started with. If you find that you are becoming frustrated or agitated with a particular student’s approach, seek help. Go to your co-workers or an Elder or a counsellor and seek guidance. You do not have to do it all.

Finally…

The work that we do as Advisors and Coordinators is very rewarding work. Students often come to our institutions feeling overwhelmed, feeling like they don’t belong and feeling that they are not capable or smart enough to be students. Most often, by the time they leave our institutions, they are more self-confident, have found their voice and have begun to discover their wisdom. The spiritual and academic growth they have experienced is tremendous. To be a part of their journey and to witness their success is a beautiful gift. This is the stuff that feeds our spirits and makes the work that we do so incredibly rewarding.

We also have the honour of contributing to the wellness and self-reliance of communities. The students we serve will go back to or into village-based, urban, Métis, and northern communities and they will make a difference. They will influence and build the systems and structures that will affect our children and grandchildren. They will keep the continuum moving.

We are here on this earth, in this life, because our ancestors were able to survive long enough to continue their lines. We get to be a part of renewal and rejuvenation. We raise our hands in gratitude for this gift.

Thank you for reading this. Take care and work well.