It's 3 a.m. You're up late finding more sources for a group project when you notice a message from a friend: "This is the worst night of my life. I've been crying for hours. I can't deal with this stupid life anymore." You want to respond quickly, but hesitate…What can you say? What if things you say only make it worse? What if your friend is thinking of…? You don't even want to go there. You want to help, but you're just not sure how… SSN’s training program gives you the tools to handle this kind of situation.
Student Support Network (SSN) three-week training program gives you the skills to help friends in crisis. We discuss mental and emotional health, warning signs of a friend who’s struggling, how to talk about issues, and connecting friends to resources. We practice situations with role-playing and visualization in order to build your ability to respond effectively when the real thing happens.
The primary goal of SSN is to expand and enrich the campus support network so every member of our community has people looking out for him or her—and all know where to go for help when things get tough. To achieve this end, we have a few secondary goals.
Knowledge. To give you information about common student struggles, and what you and others can do to help.
Skills. To help you develop your helping skills, particularly the skill of empathetic listening and responding, through practice.
Perspectives. To provide a safe place to look at issues facing college students from a variety of viewpoints and find a way to think about these without perpetuating stigmas.
Connection. To build meaningful connections, both between you and us at the SCC, and between you and your fellow trainees.
We have designed the training for any student. You are not obligated to disclose any information you are not comfortable sharing.
The time commitment is two-hours per week for three weeks, with meeting times changing each semester to fit student availability. Trainings are conducted by our counselor, Hannah Smith, MA, LPC and may involve other members of the Student Counseling staff.