Audio Podcast

Activity: Sitting Meditation

Relaxing and Managing Stress

Practical Tips to Practice Being Present

How to Relax

Grounding during a Panic Attack

Coping Statements for Anxiety

How to Find a Therapist 101

Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

Text Transcript

Intro

Matt: Are we as a society and as a school allowing ourselves the opportunity to slow down and reflect on what we want, what we need, and what will help us teach and learn? We discuss this topic today, among many others, with our guest, Sharon Harrington-Hope, director of counseling here at Lasell.

Heidi: Welcome back to the Teaching and Learning at Lasell podcast with Matt and Heidi from the TLC. All right. We're here today with Sharon Harrington-Hope, director of counseling at Lasell University. Welcome Sharon.

Matt: Welcome Sharon.

Sharon: Thank you very much Heidi, I'm happy to be here.

Q1: What changes do you expect to see when our actions are no longer driven by the crises of the past year and a half?

Heidi: So, Sharon, until very recently, most of us have been living in the moment and responding reactively rather than proactively to life-changing events. What changes do you expect to see when our actions are no longer driven by the crises of the past year and a half?

Sharon: Yeah, I think it's so hard to tell. I think we're still maybe a bit in the crisis. So I think that it will be really interesting to see how we all settle. But I think one of the things that I've been thinking about is how we've all had on some level our own pandemic and that our own interior sort of tendencies, our sense of risk, our sense of risk taking, our sense of adventurousness. That's all played out in terms of how we've related to this experience, although I do think there are some universal sort of experiences that we've had where we've had to have more time kind of on our own or self reflecting.

So the optimist in me would like to think that maybe we become a more self-reflective society where we maybe become more aware of the opportunity to slow down and think about things versus always being reactive in the moment like you're describing that we're just kind of living moment by moment and not necessarily always reflecting on "Is this what I want to be doing?" Am I feeling good? Am I happy?"

So I hope that those questions become more relevant and more important as we settle back into hopefully a better new normal.

Matt: Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. That's something that I've been thinking about a lot lately, not allowing myself. I have to respond to the most recent email, the most recent fire that just needs to be put out, but rather reflect upon lessons from the pandemic, which is indeed still going on, and what positive things have been brought out about connections that have not really been possible before that and what things we really, really don't want to continue at all.

Q2: How have you and the staff been preparing for this fall's returning to campus?

Matt: So the next question has to do with yourself and the counseling center staff here at Lasell. How have you and the staff been preparing for this fall's returning to campus?

Sharon: Well, as you may know, we are either nine or 10 month employees, so it's a little bit challenging in that we left in May really hopeful and expecting that coming back in the fall, we would be back in person unmasked, just ready to return to a more normal fall. And then over the summer, I've been watching as school after school on my listserv is announcing, "OK, we're going to telehealth; we're going to be remote." So we've been trying to just keep up with what the requirements are with the state.

We do have to wear masks if we're doing in-person counseling this coming fall. So we will be doing that. I think that we will be more student, more counselors will be on campus this year, but I think we may be doing a lot more telehealth than we anticipated. I think we're going to continue to try and do a lot of outreach and to try and get students maybe to engage with us in ways beyond one on one counseling. We're thinking about running a COVID support group for anybody who maybe has lost a loved one. So I think that in the coming weeks is really when we'll see, this week and next week, is when we're going to get our intern crew together.

We'll do some training and really get a sense of the offerings that we'll have starting September 9th.

Matt: And that's kind of the tough part what I was referring to earlier, the good things about -- well, not the good things, because what good is about a worldwide pandemic? -- but opportunities like telehealth becoming much more ubiquitous, but it adds more onto your plate when it comes to preparation and needing to be able to do that.

Sharon: That's been amazing to realize that it actually works, though. I was so skeptical in March of 2020 that we could do counseling through the screen and somehow it has been working, even though nothing really I think beats sitting in the room with something without a mask.

Matt: Right. But it can be so much more equitable too. You have a reach that you didn't have before.

Sharon: Yes.

Q3: What insights can you provide to faculty about the needs of incoming and returning students in the fall?

Heidi: I think it's wonderful that you've been keeping in touch with the students these ways. What insights can you provide to faculty about the needs of incoming and returning students in the fall?

Sharon: I think that they will have a lot. I mean, I think we all know that the students have been presented with more and more anxiety. To me, I do think there's a connection between how we're inundated with so much media and social media news. It's a 24/7 world that we live in right now where students sleep with their cell phones underneath their pillows and are interrupted in the middle of the night.

So I think if they can carve out some time to help people sort of slow down -- some deep breathing, some relaxation exercises. I think if those moments are really valued by the students that they don't get enough of that. Like, "You know what, we can put our phones down. We can take three breaths together as a class." I think that that would be really cool. I do think that a lot of people will probably struggle. We've already had -- I've had more students reaching out over the summer than I think certainly than last summer. I just think that there are so many layers that we will continue to unpack in terms of how this has impacted people, that we are going to see more students bearing the scars of this experience.

But also, you know, there is this I really love this notion of post-traumatic growth syndrome, like this opportunity to and I do think that I've seen that a lot with our students. So I think there might be opportunities for students to reflect on what they've learned and what they've gained and that maybe helping students tune into that could be something like a source of more internal confidence and sort of sense of capability that "I got through this really hard experience. I never thought I could live in my bedroom, in my parents house for 10 months and not really see friends, but I did it. And I found new hobbies. or however I got through it, I got through it."

And I hope that people are able to internalize that and take it forward into new challenges.

Matt: That's very cool. That term post-traumatic growth syndrome...because I've heard trauma-informed pedagogy, of course, teaching with individuals, understanding the traumas of the past 18 months and the challenges. But I've also been interested in the assets that students might be bringing into their classrooms as we approach September and what those are and trying to see what they are to try and look at the challenges in that positive light. Is that a term that has been used a lot, or is it just one that you've coined recently? Post-traumatic Growth?

Sharon: You know what. I'm trying to remember I read not too long ago, but I think it's out there. I mean, it's a known phenomenon that certainly that people go through hardship. And, you know, that old adage, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. There is some truth, I think, to that idea that you go through some really hard times, and you find ways to get through it, and I don't mean to take lightly the fact that some people don't survive. But if you can survive a true challenge and you get through it, there are ways that inevitably you grow. You sort of realize, "Wow, I was able to do that. I developed new parts of myself that I didn't know were there or I was capable of doing X, Y and Z."

So, I think that's often true. When I was in grad school, actually talked about this metaphor of breaking a bone. But wherever you have a broken bone, I guess it's actually stronger when it heals. And so that kind of metaphor of, OK, you have this break, you have this real challenge. And if you're able to heal, that might actually be a source of strength.

Matt: Right. A source of strength out of things that were so challenging. It's a really strong way of looking at it.

Q4: What do you think connected learning will look like in the new normal?

Matt: So with that in mind, the last question we've been asking of everybody on this summer podcast series is about connected learning and what it's going to look like as we progress into the new normal. So how about yourself? What do you think connected learning will look like in the new normal?

Sharon: I have to say, I'm a huge fan of connected learning. I think that helping students gain concrete experience, sort of, In a particular field, sort of seeing, "Yes, I have the skills," often referred to as soft skills, but I don't I don't think that that necessarily does it justice. But "I have the ability to really pay attention and follow directions and know how to engage with the clients," or whatever they're tasked with. I think connected to what we've been talking about, the sort of intra-psychic development that I think a lot of students have been forced to maybe grow in, like being more aware of themselves, more aware of what their strengths and maybe challenges are, that they'll take that into connected learning and going into sites and maybe be better able to advocate for themselves.

I mean, truthfully, I've been really excited about how the pandemic has pushed people to maybe walk off a job that's not worth their time. I mean, I think there are downsides to that. But I think there's a sense of empowerment of, you know, "I'm not going to do something that isn't well compensated and maybe is dangerous when it's not...when I'm not being respected the way that I should." And I think that maybe students will. I'm sure we don't want to just walking off every internship experience that they have. But to be more grounded in a sense of "I bring something to this, I'm working. I'm dedicated to this opportunity and I hope and expect that the people that I'm working with are going to kind of reciprocate and give me the supervision, the guidance that I need and deserve."

So I am hopeful that, again, an intra-psychic skills will be something that will be more valued, because I think the sensitivity and sort of awareness, I think collectively is something that we all will need to kind of harness, because a lot of us have had a lot of struggles that will linger. And I think that this generation I do find is more sensitive, is more attuned already. And I do think that this pandemic and the crises that they've been through might heighten that to a point that they can really capitalize on it as sort of -- that's not that's not the best word to maybe use -- but to to harness the skills that they've developed through this hardship.

Matt: No, well, I mean, you mentioned sensitivity; sensitivity does not have to be a negative thing. It can be an empathetic thing.

Sharon: I grew up always being told "You're so sensitive." And I say that to clients; you know, sometimes we joke about it because. Yeah, and it actually is an asset. Or I can see that now as an asset where historically, maybe in the family of that I came from, it was not an asset. And I think that now increasingly there is some value or awareness that it is important to maybe honor that some people feel things more deeply and they might actually be seeing things that are important to pay attention to.

And I think I am excited about the prevalence of mental health in terms of how much more aware I think people are just in general. And I think that's been happening for a long time. But I do think that the pandemic experience is pushing that that this is an aspect of overall health that we all need to pay attention to and not just the counseling center in our little corner, but I think as a community that we need to really tend to the whole person. And the connected learning really taps into one component of the person. And I think that mental health is a key component of that whole person picture.

Matt: I think that it's a really good observation about the challenges people have been facing and how you don't have to look at them as "You have been harnessed with this terrible trauma that's going to weigh you down," but can in fact, be empowering. Like one of the things I was thinking about as you talked about empowerment and people being able to look at their decisions, things that they were doing was about faculty who would, for example -- Heidi, you've talked about this, too, right? -- People who have the expectation that they should work sick. And that's a different conversation now, hopefully. And people are like, not saying...there isn't an expectation that your bosses you should come in sick. It's sort of like, "no, no, no, no. I need to take care of myself. And in so doing, I take care of you." And I don't know if that's a ubiquitous experience across the board, but it was what I was thinking about when you're talking about things.

Sharon: I think that's a great point. Yeah, it's true that that's totally changed. No more pushing through and coming in with a cold; that's not seen as positive anymore. I'm looking at what you wrote [in the chat] Heidi. Ah, disposable assignments that I'm going to be advising on. I think that that's really true too. Like not the the work just for the sake of doing it.

Matt: Yeah, that sounds great. Well, yeah, thanks so much for joining us. Take care of yourselves, right?

Sharon: Thank you so much. Thank you!

Matt: And take care of yourself. And thanks so much for joining us.

Outro

Thanks so much for listening to us, everybody. Faculty interested in learning more about teaching and learning here at Lasell can visit MyLasell at https://my.lasell.edu. Or you can send us an email at TLC@lasell.edu, or give us a call: 617-243-2001.

See you later!