The Ethics of Wellness in College Student Affairs

​“I think it is about figuring out how to make sure that I’m whole enough for helping others. So, whether that is going to counseling or going to church or going to the trivia, you have to find the support you have. “
 
(Dissertation participant, “Bernadette,” on how she views support in student affairs.)

​Last month, I had the privilege of presenting my dissertation research on secondary traumatic stress in U.S. college student affairs professionals at the 2018 Annual Convention of the American College Personnel Association in Houston, Texas.  After presenting, the session discussant, an ethicist from Central Michigan University, gave her feedback about my paper.  In her critique she suggested that I consider focusing part of my manuscript on the ethical imperative of student affairs professionals to consider their own personal wellness in order to be fully capable of supporting their students.  In the weeks since ACPA, her comments have stuck with me, compelling me to develop this month’s blog to reflect on how ensuring our own personal wellness is an ethical responsibility of those charged with the learning and development of students.   However, before I begin it is important to understand what I mean by two key terms in this essay:  professional ethics and wellness.  Going forward, I self-define professional ethics as a standard set of values, rules, and dispositions that are collectively agreed upon that guide professional behavior.  Wellness may be defined as an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence (National Wellness Institute, n.d.).   
 
For most educators, standards for professional ethics are discussed at length through graduate preparation programs, conferences, or on-boarding processes.  This holds true for college student affairs educators.  In 2016, the two largest student affairs national organizations, NASPA and ACPA, published a joint document detailing the standards for professional competencies in the field, including a section dedicated to Professional & Ethical Foundations.  In this document, personal wellness is mentioned 14 times (ACPA & NASPA, 2015).  ACPA has also published its own set of ethical principles with two sub-standards that call professionals to their obligation to continually reflect on their own wellness as a function of their ability to fully function as a support person for students (ACPA, n.d.).

• 1.3 Maintain and enhance professional effectiveness by continually improving skills and acquiring new knowledge.
• 1.4 Monitor their personal and professional functioning and effectiveness and seek assistance from appropriate professionals as needed.

 
Other helping professions such as counseling, psychology, and social work have long-centered self-care and personal wellness as an essential part of providing helping services (Doran, 2014; Norcross & Barnett, 2008).  The American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologist and Code of Conduct (2017) codified this sentiment in section 2.06 (Personal Problems and Conflicts), stating:

• (a) Psychologists refrain from initiating an activity when they know or should know that there is a substantial likelihood that their personal problems will prevent them from performing their work-related activities in a competent manner.
• (b) When psychologists become aware of personal problems that may interfere with their performing work-related duties adequately, they take appropriate measures, such as obtaining professional consultation or assistance, and determine whether they should limit, suspend, or terminate their work-related duties.   (APA, 2017, p. 1063)

The American Counseling Association Code of Ethics (2014, p.9) provides another example

• Counselors are alert to the signs of impairment from their own physical, mental, or emotional problems and refrain from offering or providing professional services when such impairment is likely to harm a client or others. They seek assistance for problems that reach the level of professional impairment…

 
Although the examples above provide a framework for a rationale to support an ethical imperative for personal wellness management in student affairs work, leaders in the profession may find it necessary to be more explicit in facilitating personal wellness as a necessary job function.  Resources already exist that may assist in creating wellness-centered organizational cultures, such as ACPA’s Commission for Wellness and NASPA’s Wellness & Health Knowledge Community.  Yet, these resources may be underutilized in many student affairs functional areas outside of Health Promotion.  Through my dissertation research, as well as through numerous anecdotes from colleagues across the country, practitioners, departmental leaders, and supervisors are not addressing staff wellness as an ethical necessity of job performance and organizational functioning.  To that end, consider the following questions:

• How are we creating environments that promote authentic discourse and/or personal reflection about day to day wellness, or lack thereof?

 

• How are we working with our departments of human resources to devise policies that balance wellness with organizational needs?

 

• How are we training graduate students and new professionals to actively maintain their wellness, as well as holding them accountable for attending to their wellness needs?

 

• How are we preparing supervisors to recognize when wellness is being neglected and coaching staff to recognize and pay attention to their personal wellness? 

 

• How are we infusing wellness into the job duties of staff and supervisors and tying them to evaluation criteria?

 
Given the rise in student’s needs and decreasing budgets for student services staff in colleges and universities across the nation, I hope that leaders in college student affairs will consider the need for an intentional and ongoing conversation on how we balance students’ needs without sacrificing our own wellness. 
 
Your Time to Chime In!
 
To what degree should attention to personal wellness be addressed as an ethical imperative within the profession of college student affairs?
 
What would this look like in professional practice and organizational culture? 
 
Take a moment to comment below!

Sources:
ACPA & NASPA. (2015). Professional competency areas for student affairs. Washington, D.C.:  ACPA, College Student
     Educators International & North American Student Personnel Association. 
American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist,
     57, 1060-1073.
Doran, J. (2014). The unspoken truth about self-care. gradPSYCH Magazine. April 2014, 48.       
     Retrieved from:  http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2014/04/corner.aspx
Lynch, R.J. (2017).  Breaking the silence:  A phenomenological exploration of secondary traumatic stress in U.S. college
     student affairs professionals (Doctoral dissertation). retrieved from ProQuest. (9780355348958)
National Wellness Institute (n.d.).  The six dimensions of wellness.  Retrieved from:  http://www.nationalwellness.org/?
    page=six_dimensions
Norcross, J. C., & Barnett, J. E. (2008). Self-care as ethical imperative. The Register Report, Spring 2008. Retrieved
     from: http://www.nationalregister.org/trr_spring08_norcross.html.