Comments on PeerCentered: writers exhibiting Mental Illness struggles

I worked with a student last fall whose paper deal...

2008-09-23T08:36:00.000-06:00

I worked with a student last fall whose paper dealt with recurring nightmares (of abuse and murder/suicide) and it was a very difficult and emotional session. We had met before during a classroom visit, so maybe she felt comfortable sharing with me as opposed to a total stranger.

I did bring up the issues right away (again, this was easier since we weren't strangers) and she recognized the seriousness of her subject and was very upfront that yes, she is in counseling and is very much in the process of working through her issues. From there, our session covered usual topics like academic expectations and writerly issues.

She mentioned that she was registered with our Accessibility Office, and so the next day I popped over to speak with the director there, just to kind of follow up a bit. I worried that was ehtically over-stepping my boundaries, but weighing the seriousness of everything, I went ahead anyway.

Times like this are when it's good to have a working relationship with other services on campus - knowing who the counselors are, where their offices are - so that we can can help direct students when their needs begin to exceed the help we can provide.

Of course, serious concerns should be directed to ...

2008-09-22T14:51:00.000-06:00

Of course, serious concerns should be directed to the director.

But I think it's also good for us to be aware of other campus resources. The Writing Center is just one of the resources available to students on our campus. Maybe we can mention some of the other resources in our consultations if we feel it's appropriate. Definitely not as a means of sending a student away, but, while we're focused on their writing, we could also mention that if they want to talk more about [the subject of concern] that there are counseling services, tutoring services, academic advising, etc. If we know, or educate ourselves, about these services, we can suggest that another student might be able to utilize them in addition to the Writing Center.

Philip, I wonder--would you be offended if you came in for a consultation with the type of paper you mentioned and I suggested that, say, if you wanted to talk to someone more on the topic of suicide (maybe even as research?), you could check out the university counseling services? Would this be an inappropriate comment?

It's true, any kind of workshop environment will g...

2008-09-20T15:48:00.000-06:00

It's true, any kind of workshop environment will give you a glimpse into someone's private thoughts, but most particularly writing. I suspect that a writer bringing a disturbed piece to a writing center may be asking for some sort of help, even if it's just recognition that other people get stressed, too. Last year in a BSU poetry class, a colleague wrote a deeply morbid and self bashing poem that set off all kinds of whistles and bells in my head about depression and hopelessness. I dealt with it quietly and personally, but I just liked the person anyhow, so it was an easy segue into a lasting friendship. I would have discussed it with the teacher if I hadn't been willing to say something myself. I wouldn't hesitate to let your director know even if all you have is a funny feeling about a person. What's the worst case scenario, the person was having a bad day and you misread their signals? I'd rather be wrong once in a while - you could save someone's life. What I wouldn't do is discuss it with other tutors before I talked to the director - unless it was urgent - because even the kindest of us inadvertently gossip or are overheard, and some students can be cruel to a person they suspect is unstable.

Those are excellent questions, Phil. How does one...

2008-09-19T11:37:00.000-06:00

Those are excellent questions, Phil. How does one recognize mental illness? How does one know if the student writing out violent scenes in his stories (Seung-Hui Cho) is so mentally unstable he is going to go on a killing spree? This is a tough issue for writing centers, that's for sure.