cpsylist: Reminder to students about Best Practice Processes

[Benedict McWhirter]

Greetings students:

I hope this week is going well. I can't believe we are half way through the quarter!


Thanks for all your wonderful help during CPSY student interview weekend!  The interview candidates were very lovely and we received many comments about how supportive and welcoming the program (you!) were to them. Offers (and letters to our alternates) have gone out and we will soon know who will be joining us next year!  I will let you know of the full group as soon as I know. That usually takes a while.


In an effort to support your work and support you in engaging in best practice for problem resolution, I wanted to send this reminder about processes and professional best practice.

As all of you know - or at least by now should know - from both Graduate School guidelines and standards of practice for psychologists, if you as a student have a concern with a course or instructor or student dynamic, or anything else similar to this, there are some clear steps you should follow for resolving a conflict or dealing with a concern.  Here is the sequence:


1.       First, always try to deal directly with the source of the concern, or deal with the group dynamic that you experience with the group itself. Give direct feedback. This may not mean change will happen, but discussions almost always lead to clarification of perception and increased compassion, which is essential when we are in professional relationships with each other for so many years.



2.       Second, if your direct communication with the source of the concern did not result in a satisfactory response (a discussion, change, or clarification of perceptions), then your next REQUIRED step is to consult with your advisor about it – or another trusted faculty member, if there is a conflict of interest (e.g., the concern involves your advisor somehow). It is good to remember when thinking this through that not all courses, or trainings, etc. will provide for all of the needs of all students all the time -- and that expectation is really not realistic.



3.       Third, if this is not satisfactory or if there is a conflict of interest or if you would like to have more focus on a particular problem or concern, your next step is to talk with your CPSY program director directly. You can do this through CPSY student reps, but if your concern has to do with a single person or instructor it should not be managed through student reps. You should talk to the training director personally and directly. All faculty take our ethical responsibilities very seriously and can manage information with finesse and skill (and we do this all the time--the fact that you don't know about it is just a good example of what I mean).  Also, so you know, as training director I will always ask you "who have you talked to before me- and how did your attempt at direct feedback work".



4.       Fourth, if that is not satisfactory or did not lead to a satisfactory response, let the training director know that you would like to talk to the department head, and do that.  Or , if there is a conflict of interest with the training director to begin with, then you can bypass the training director and should talk directly to the department head. The department head will always ask you "who have you talked to before me- and how did your attempt at direct feedback work".


5.     There might be an occasion in which you may involve the graduate school or consult with the graduate school at some point -- but that advice would likely come to you from your advisor OR the program director OR the department head. Mostly, we resolve issues "in house" in the COE and the grad school is really not set up to deal with internal concerns, conflicts, and the like.  But this is another resource and step I wanted to mention and sometimes it is helpful.



6.       Only after ALL of these steps (1 through 4) have been followed should you engage with (meet or communicate with) the COE Associate Dean for Academics and/or sign on to anything like a letter of complaint about a faculty member, course, or other curricular issue. We consider that to skip these steps and "amp up" your response in this manner to be highly unprofessional.  Also, by "dealing directly with" that means YOU, not a supposed "representative" of a group or anyone speaking for you.  That's a whole other issue to discuss!

I hope this helps provide some formation about how to deal with a curriculum or faculty or student group concern that you experience. Faculty are here to provide you with support in how to engage in best practices, especially when something like a group dynamic can take over this sequence of responses.  And to be clear, when the issue involves other students there are student reps, leaders, and student groups to help with this too - so I am not telling you that all need to come through your faculty.  We will be as helpful as we can if any concern or conflict or problem comes up.

Thanks all- and I am happy to discuss this in detail next full student/TD meeting.

Have a great end of your week!!
Pax omnis
Benedict


________________________________________________
Benedict T. McWhirter, Ph.D.
Professor, Counseling Psychology and Prevention Science
Program Director, Counseling Psychology Program
College of Education
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon, 97403-5251
U.S.A.
benmcw at uoregon.edu<mailto:benmcw at uoregon.edu>
541-346-2410

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