“Be kind, be calm, and be safe.”
Dr. Bonnie Henry’s rallying words apply well to how we should aim to communicate with students who are struggling.
University is an incredibly challenging time for many students. The crunch of mounting assignments, balancing finances, mental and physical health, and concerns about family all impact our students’ wellbeing and their capacity to write. With the COVID-19 crisis, we’re seeing these challenges intensify as students are grappling with time differences, technical difficulties, threat of illness in their families, and isolation from their communities.
Students often reach out to TAs for help right before, or sometimes right after, a deadline. Others will connect with you early in the term to provide you with a letter of accommodation from the Centre for Accessibility. You might come across work in which students are writing about self-harm or the trauma of being sexually assaulted. In each of these cases, it’s important to communicate with the instructor about any challenges the student may be facing. Policies around late assignments and when you can offer extensions may differ from one instructor to another, but at the end of the day, any accommodations must be okayed by the instructor, and it is your responsibility to keep them informed of the situation.
Be Kind: Strategies for supporting students
Check your email often and reply quickly.
When students are dealing with anxieties around coursework, a big part of this can be grappling with the fear of the unknown. “X is happening. Are they going to accept this assignment if I hand it in late?” “Is this TA even willing to help me? Will they believe me?” These unknowns will run amok and spiral if given time and space, so the best way to help allay anxieties is to reply quickly. You might not have all the answers to their questions—be open about that and tell them you will get back to them once you check in with the instructor. What’s important is that they don’t feel ignored.
There may be times when you’re not able to respond to emails quickly, due to other factors in your own life. When using a shared email with other TAs on the course, arrange with them to look after any emails that may be directed your way.
If a student has contacted another TA through the course email and you see that they haven’t been responded to, don’t be afraid to check in with that other TA.
Offer to set up a meeting during office hours.
Although perhaps a bit more difficult than normal in our present circumstances, meeting with students face-to-face (or screen-to-screen) cuts down on miscommunication and helps students feel heard. Be an active listener and speak calmly. If possible, be open to meeting outside of your regularly scheduled hours as well. Students often have scheduling conflicts with other classes during our office hours and can feel left behind if they can’t make that rather narrow window.
Always approach from a place of kindness, rather than skepticism.
The rare student who is in fact trying to pull one over on you really isn’t as subtle as they think they are. If you’re ever in doubt or something isn’t quite adding up, refer the student to the instructor—they develop a pretty good sense for dealing with these types of situations.
When receiving letters of accommodation, it is never appropriate to ask the reason a student has received one.
Students have a right to privacy. They might disclose that information to you on their own, and if so, that information is confidential and only between you, the student, and the instructor.
Maintain a list of students in need of support with your instructor and fellow TAs.
This helps you keep track of any modified deadlines, letters of accommodation, or other arrangements you’ve agreed upon with students. It also helps all of the markers to be on the same page regarding the needs of the students. As per UBC’s data policy, avoid using any external file sharing apps, such as Google Drive or Dropbox, for anything containing student information. All shared documents should be shared over your UBC OneDrive.
Be Calm: Know when to refer
Remember that you are not the student’s counsellor. There may be times when you can empathize with what a student is experiencing and feel that you could offer help on a personal level. However, as a TA, you are not responsible for students’ mental wellbeing. It’s imperative to maintain appropriate boundaries and avoid creating conflicts of interest to protect both you and the student. Your goal as a TA is to help students improve their writing and meet the requirements of the course, not to become part of their emotional support system.
But that doesn’t mean that we have to leave students by themselves while they are in crisis. There are numerous supports UBC offers to which you can refer your students:
• UBC Counselling: UBC offers free counselling to students, including virtual drop-in appointments.
• UBC Student Assistance Program (Aspiria): UBC students have access to 24/7 support through Aspiria, which can offer more immediate support as well as a greater network of counsellors to draw upon.
• UBC Centre for Accessibility provides support to students with ongoing concerns that may impact their academic capacity. These might include learning differences, such as dyslexia, mental health challenges, such as depression or anxiety, and chronic or acute health conditions. The Centre works with many students, so encourage students to get in touch early to ensure that their issue will be dealt with sooner rather than later. Many have found that the letters of accommodation issued by the Centre are incredibly helpful for managing courses and accessing the support they require.
• Early Alert: As detailed in the TA orientation, Early Alert allows instructors to issue notice to the university when a student is struggling and may need further support. Keep in mind that in the Creative Writing Program’s policy for Early Alerts is that they must be issued by the instructor—or, should they not be available, the undergraduate advisor —not TAs.
• The AMS Sexual Assault Support Centre offers many supports for those who have experienced sexualized violence, including crisis support, support groups, and accompaniment to court, appointments, and other services.
When referring students to other services, make sure to stay clear from assumptions, loaded questions, and judgement. Just because you see signs of depression, for example, it doesn’t mean the student is open to discussing that with you. Instead of asking “Are you depressed?” or “Are you in counselling?”, try a more neutral question: “Do you have the support that you need?” If not, it may then be appropriate to direct them to UBC Counselling or Empower Me.
Be Safe: Look after yourself
As mentioned earlier, you are a Teaching Assistant, not a counsellor. You do not have a responsibility to look after your students, especially if doing so begins to have an undue impact on your own life. The extra load may become too difficult to maintain along with your own coursework and marking. A piece of student writing or confided experiences might dredge up personal trauma for you. A student could begin to cross your boundaries. In all of these cases and more, you must prioritize your wellbeing and request that the instructor take over.
Remember that all of the resources listed under “Be calm” are also available for you to make use of. As compassionate human beings, we often feel like we have the duty to look out for everyone around us. It can be hard to prioritize ourselves. But as a mentor once told me, we have to look after ourselves if we want to look after the world.