Routine Support

Listening, reflecting the context and emotions you hear to check for comprehension, and aligning with students who are reaching developmental milestones is sometimes just what students need to begin to grow in their confidence and motivation to take action. Using your institutional knowledge, please refer them to appropriate Student Affairs offices. This could include looking up websites together, sitting with them while they call to make an appointment or inquire about services, or sending them an email introducing them to a staff member in one of those offices. 

Additional Supports

In situations where the presenting challenges are significantly affecting a student’s academic performance or attendance, or their ability to engage appropriately in other areas of their lives at Middlebury (e.g. athletics, social relationships, etc.), students may need follow up in addition to your conversation and referral. The appropriate approach to activate additional supports depends on the nature of the concern.

• For concerns of an academic nature, contacting your student’s class dean via email remains an effective option. But please first consider submitting a course alert as these allow for the greatest transparency in addition to activating specific on and off-campus supports. Assistant Deans for Student Success always reach out to students when course alerts are issued.
• For concerns related to physical and mental health, contact the Center for Health and Wellness at chw@middlebury.edu or by calling 802-443-5141 and leaving a message.
• For behavioral, social, financial, or other generalized concerns which you believe warrant follow-up, utilize the submit a Care Form. This system allows you to submit information directly to our care management team who will triage and assign it for follow-up to the appropriate resource. To submit a Care Form, begin by selecting your role at the college (staff, faculty, student). Once you indicate that you are “faculty”, select “General Student Concern” under “Report Type” and then continue filling in the remainder of the form. Red asterisks indicate required fields, but not all fields are required.

This system  ensures that concerns are addressed in a timely manner and that the most appropriate person is assigned to follow up with the student. Staff in the Center for Health and Wellness and the Center for Student Success are always available to consult with faculty and staff. 

Process Overview

No matter which support staff you activate, it’s essential that when making a referral via email, phone, or a Care Form, you include specific observed behaviors, implications for academic success, and/or direct quotes from the student of concern. This is the information most helpful to the staff in effectively addressing concerns. Avoid using diagnostic language and labels  (e.g., is depressed, acting manic, etc.) unless the student specifically shares such information (i.e., student reports they were recently diagnosed with an anxiety disorder). Similarly, be specific about academic concerns (e.g., the student will not pass the course unless they earn a 90 on the final exam) instead of using broad descriptions (e.g. they are in danger of failure). Again,  describing concrete behaviors (e.g.,running out of class, speaking rapidly, and making appointments weekly for office hours and no-showing every time ) and conversations that you have had (e.g., both parents passing away in a recent car crash, being financially responsible for siblings and grandparents back home) is most helpful.

In most cases, you will receive a confirmation email once your concern has been reviewed. In some instances, we may follow up asking for additional information. In other instances, we may not be able to follow up with you due to student privacy concerns or confidentiality. In all instances, appropriate follow-up will be arranged as needed.

Those of us in Student Affairs find it helpful when connecting with a student who is struggling to be able to say why we are reaching out, specifying that a member of our community who cares about them has expressed concern. We prefer to let the student know who the concern came from so that the student does not begin to worry that others are judging them. Before, or shortly after, activating additional resources, consider letting the student know you are about to reach out to your colleagues in Student Affairs on their behalf. An example of what you might say is “I am noticing that you are missing class regularly each week and when you do attend, you look tired and seem to be having trouble sustaining your attention. Is there anything you would like to share with me, or is there something you think I might be able to help with?  I also want to let you know that I am planning on reaching out to my colleagues in Student Affairs to share this concern as I realize I may not be the best person to help you address what is going on. I am doing this because it is important to me that you have what you need to be successful and happy here at Middlebury.”  You may even find during this conversation that it makes sense to direct the student to campus resources. If so, please include what those resources are in your referral email, call, or Care Form so that we know what has already been offered to the student.