The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 37, No. 2 - 17

Training RAs to Make Referrals

have built even a minimal level of acquaintance with the counseling staff. Providing a tour of the counseling-related facilities on campus not only allows RAs further opportunities to make connections with the counselors, but also provides them with hands-on knowledge of the facilities that will prove useful to them when they interact with their residents. Finally, each RA should receive a reference card with the phone numbers and locations of the services and centers on campus that are available to students. Such a card can also summarize emergency procedures. Similar training will be helpful for graduate-level and professional staff, particularly because in most cases the primary responsibility for referrals to counseling falls to them.

ATTITuDES
Attitudes Related to Referral
Attitudes are arguably the area of RA referral training that is least often addressed; however, it is a critically important one, since attitudes influence behavior (Botega et al., 2007). If RAs have negative attitudes about counseling, they are unlikely to refer students; even when they do so, these referrals are unlikely to be effective, as the RA can inadvertently communicate his or her negative attitudes about counseling. As Sharkin (2006) observed, If you hold negative ideas about help-seeking or lack confidence in the effectiveness of counseling, it is perhaps unlikely that you will suggest counseling to students unless you are very concerned about their well-being. However, it may be difficult to convince students to seek help if you are yourself skeptical of professional help because you may somehow inadvertently communicate your own biases to students. (p. 73)

RAs’ attitudes toward counseling are likely related to two major areas: stigma and effectiveness. Sibicky and Dovidio (1986) found that students rated conversational partners less favorably when they were told that the partners were seeking psychological therapy than they did when they were told that their partners were recruited from introductory psychology courses. However, Vogel, Wade, and Hackler (2007) recently found that the link between the perceived public stigma of counseling and the willingness to seek counseling was fully mediated by self-stigma and attitudes toward counseling; that is, although public sentiment about seeking therapy clearly exists, internalized stigma is likely more powerful in affecting an individual’s decision to seek help. Positive attitudes about seeking professional psychological help are related to the intention to seek help in college students (Deane & Todd, 1996). Attitudes are also related to the willingness to intervene with a troubled peer (Kalafat & Elias, 1994). Reynolds (2009) addressed the critical importance of self-awareness, of the helper’s ability to understand his or her own values, biases, and attitudes. Although those who train RAs cannot likely influence the campus attitude toward counseling, they can work with RAs to decrease their perceived self-stigma and enhance their own attitudes toward the counseling process. RAs may question the beneficial nature of counseling—is it actually effective? If these types of questions and doubts exist in the minds of RAs, they will likely emerge in nonverbal ways as they interact with their residents. For example, RAs may verbally assert an understanding and belief in counseling, but the tone of their voice may communicate a

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 37, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 37, No. 2