Sam Harbison Megan Lorincz Rudi Motshubi

• Assistant Director of • 2nd Year Graduate • 2nd year graduate

Residence Life Student student
• She, her, hers • She, her, hers • He, him, his
• First generation • Heterosexual • International
college student cisgender female education background
• White, cisgender • Mixed • Cisgender male
female • Burnout Sufferer • Self- care advocate
• Self-care learner
Our Why
• Why are we discussing this?
• Experience & data
• Lack of solutions
• Why a call for curricula?
• Ability to individualize curricula to programs, people, etc.
• Learning driven
Presentation Objectives
• Learn:
• We will discuss burnout statistics amongst young professionals in the field
• We will present a potential solution for limiting this stress & burnout
• Practice:
• We will participate in an activity to identify one’s self-care burnout signals
• Discussion:
• We will discuss the elements of implementing a self-care curriculum at our
respective institutions
Statistics on Burnout
• Matters because 50-60% of student affairs professionals leave within
first five years (Marshall, Gardner, Hughes, &Lowery, 2016)
• Extended work hours, stress and burnout is a common reason why
people leave
• New professionals represent 15-20% of the workforce for student affairs
(Razek, McCall, & Mulherin, 2016)
• Higher education is one of the most top 15 stressful occupations
(Guthrie, Woods, Cusker, &Gregory, 2005)
Stress vs. Burnout
• “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse
or very demanding circumstances”(Merriam-Webster definition)

• Burnout is the “state of fatigue and frustration arising from unrealistic,

excessive demands on personal resources leading to physical and
mental exhaustion”(Guthrie et al., 2005, p. 111).
New Professional Burnout
• Constant doggie paddling & the ever-
advancing department
• The “mastered it” or “what else”
mindset
• Growth vs. fixed mindset
• Salary vs hourly work week
• Romanticizing busyness
Supervisors:
• How do you supervise with a anti-
burnout mindset?
• How do you role model positive self-
care?
• How are you setting the stage for your
staff to realistically meet the
goals/expectations of the dept. & self-
care goals?
Now What?
Our Solution: Teach graduate students and young professionals how to
practice self-care, not just perpetuate self-care illusions
The Self-Care Curriculum
How was this developed?
• Identified NASPA/ACPA competencies
-> drafted learning outcomes ->
created a scaffolded timeline ->
created activities/challenges

• Bloom’s taxonomy
Learning Outcomes (Identification)
• Students will be able to identify their own values, beliefs, and commitments
• Students will understand how their values, beliefs, and commitments impact
their self-care needs
• Students will understand the intersectionality of their self-care practices with
own values, beliefs, and commitments
• Students will be able to identify self-care skills to meet their individual needs
• Students will be able to identify contradictory actions/routines to self-care
Learning Outcomes (Action)
• Students will explore self-care and stress release strategies
• Students will be able to remove contradictory actions/routines to self-care
• Students will be able to create a personalized self-care plan with supervisory
guidance
• Students will be able to implement self-care skills to meet their individual needs
• Students will be able to modify their personalized self-care plan following practice
and reflection
• Students will be able to successfully complete their self-care plan with supervisory
guidance
• Students will demonstrate personal opportune self-care without supervisory
guidance
Lesson Plan
Examples
Lesson Plan
Examples
Assessment
• Current Project at Virginia Tech: The Trial Run
• Steps:
• IRB
• Recruit Volunteers
• Share Curriculum
• Pre- and Post-Surveys
• Ongoing data collection
Practice: Wellness Continua Worksheet
• Wellness “wheel” derived from dimensions of wellness
• There are various wheels that exists with at least 5 dimensions
• Our wheel uses 6 and we shall complete it today
• Intersectionality
 Pair & Share
1. Regarding your Housing and Residence Life position, what were some of the
successes or challenges to wellness that you identified?
2. What frustrates you? What inspires you?
3. Identify one area of improvement on your wellness worksheet and discuss
how you might try to alleviate it moving forward.
4. Identify one area of success on your wellness worksheet and take note! :)
Praise yourself and commit to continuing this action moving forward.
5. Who within your friend group, family, or work environment can you lean on
for wellness support?
Discussion
• What are your thoughts/takeaways regarding the potential of a self-care
curriculum at your institution?
• Considering your role at your institution, what is within your locus of
control?
Final Thoughts & Reflections
• This is NOT one-size-fits-all; this is one tool for professionals to explore a
multitude of self-care practices that are already successfully being utilized
• This is a draft curriculum and welcome and appreciate any feedback!
• Ideally, student affairs graduate school programs would develop a course to teach
students before they become professionals. However, departments can also
implement self-care curricula based around their department’s needs.
• If this curricula was implemented into our mandatory training it would decrease
stress and burnout (Burke, Dye,& Hughey, 2016)
References
• Burke, M. G., Dye, L.,&Hughey, A. W. (2016). Teaching Mindfulness for the Self-Care and
Well-Being of Student Affairs Professionals.College Student Affairs Journal,34(3), 93-107.
• Guthrie, V. L., Woods, E., Cusker, C.,&Gregory, M. (2005). A portrait of balance: Personal
and professional balance among student affairs educators.College Student Affairs
Journal,24(2), 110.
• Marshall, S. M., Gardner, M. M., Hughes, C.,&Lowery, U. (2016). Attrition from student
affairs: Perspectives from those who exited the profession.Journal of Student Affairs
Research and Practice,53(2), 146-159.
• Razek, N. A., McCall, J.,&Mulherin, E. (2016). Prepare, Hire, and Retain: The Lost Link
between Graduate Preparation and Retention of Professionals in Student Affairs.Journal
of Research, Assessment, and Practice in Higher Education,1(1), 7.
 questions?

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A Self-Care Journey