Build a Better
Relationship
With Your Counseling
Center Director
Develop Protocols,
Improve Your Effectiveness
BY JAMIE DAVIDSON
Many senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) find
themselves under increasing pressure, both internally and externally, to address the safety of
students on campus. Times like these can stress the best of
relationships between an SSAO and his or her counseling
center director.
As a former counseling center director and a current assistant vice president to whom the counseling center director
reports, my perspective reflects both sides of effective working
relationships between these two campus leaders. A strong relationship between the chief mental health officer and the
SSAO can make or break the readiness of a campus to
respond to students in crisis. Before a crisis occurs, SSAOs
should take necessary steps to strengthen their relationships
with counseling center directors.
Identify Expectations in Advance
The midst of a crisis is not the time for an SSAO and a
counseling center director to be at loggerheads over the
management of a student. The era of counseling centers as
isolated silos is over. SSAOs need to thoroughly understand
how the counseling center operates on both a philosophical
and practical level.
Counseling centers traditionally support the academic
mission of an institution through three broad roles: developmental and clinical counseling services; education and
prevention programs; and consultation and outreach to the
campus community. The variety of services and programs
offered generally varies according to the resources of the
counseling center and the service priorities of colleges and
universities. However, the recent spotlight has been on the
crisis response, prevention, and threat assessment role of
counseling centers.
On a practical level, exactly what should an SSAO know?
Try discussing the following questions with your counseling
center director: How do you handle acutely distressed students?
What are the roles for various officials on campus when an at-
