Students in Distress: A Guide for Vanderbilt Faculty & Staff

Warning Signals of Distress

Students may demonstrate behavior that indicates distress and a need for assistance. A combination of several factors more than a single circumstance is most likely to indicate a problem:

• Academic performance concerns, uncharacteristic changes
• Declining grades or reduced class participation
• Incomplete or missing assignments
• Repeated requests for extensions, incompletes, or withdrawals
• Increased absenteeism or tardiness
• Disruptive classroom behavior
• Apparent memory loss or difficulty concentrating
• Cheating, rule breaking, or defiance
• Poor organization skills or trouble with note taking
• Bizarre, aggressive or morbid comments or written content
• Expressions of feeling hopeless, helpless, guilty and/or worthless
• Self injury or other self-destructive behavior

Physical and Emotional Signals

• Chronic fatigue, falling asleep in class
• Symptoms of being easily distracted, “spacey,” or a tendency to daydream
• Nervousness or tearfulness
• Marked changes in regular habits or activities
• Significant weight gain or loss
• Signs of intoxication, dilated or constricted pupils, or apparent hangovers
• Poor or declining physical appearance, hygiene, and grooming
• Hyperactivity or rapid, pressured speech
• Extreme boredom, negativism, defensiveness, and secretiveness
• Comments by others about alcohol or drug use
• Erratic behavior, sudden mood swings, inappropriate anger, hostility, and irritability
• Hyper-expansiveness or grandiosity
• Withdrawal from others or loss of pleasure in everyday activities
• Talk of suicide or harm to self or others

If you decide to express your concern to the student:

• Choose a place where you may talk quietly without interruption, at a time convenient for both of you.
• Be honest and focus on the specific signs that alerted you to a possible problem.
• Remain calm, compassionate, and willing to listen.
• Convey your willingness to help.
• Be aware that the student could respond in a variety of ways. Don’t interpret negative, indifferent, or hostile responses as a wasted effort. A decision to seek help often takes time.
• Sometimes fear gets in the way of the student’s willingness to accept assistance. Acknowledging possible reservations may help overcome this barrier.
• Provide the student with the phone number of the University Counseling Center, Student Health, Religious Life, or the Dean of Students.
• If appropriate, ask for an agreement to make an appointment by a certain date. It may be helpful to ask the student later if he or she has followed through on a referral you made.
• Keep communication open by telling the student you are always willing to listen.
• Occasionally, it may be helpful to assist a student with making a contact.
• Be mindful that students may view referral as rejection.