Boundaries

Being an Effective Course Rep

Positive Responses

• Take your time, allow time to think and seek advice if necessary
• Do not feel total responsibility, you are not the only source of help
• Enable students to make their own choices
• Listen, but don't feel that you have to provide answers
• Be clear and 'boundaried' about how much time you have got and where your helping role ends
• Give them options - the range of appropriate sources of help
• Maintain confidentiality
• Know when you need to pass on information (if a student is at rish, after seeking advice, preferably with the student's consent)
• Accept that there are limits to what can be done to help
• Allow them to stay in charge and make their own decisions
• Seek support for yourself (take time to 'de-brief', talk to another Course Rep, a colleague, a Student Counsellor)

Negative Responses

• Wanting to be liked
• Not listening
• Trying to identify too much with the student
• Transferring your own anxieties onto the student
• Gossiping, breaking confidentiality
• Imposing your own solutions
• Wanting to do too much for the student
• Finding a quick solution
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Lynne Fisher, Mental Health Advisor ( Student Services, UoG), Nov 2006