Special edition! Elena Duenas, Graduate Service Specialist at the University of the Pacific, has nominated Shane-Justin for this week’s Member Spotlight.
What is a successful achievement Shane-Justin has had doing BIT work?
Shane-Justin just moved to Radford University from The University of Texas at Tyler. However, when Shane-Justin arrived at his previous institution, the infrastructure was missing for the BIT. Cases were not appropriately audited, team reviews occurred infrequently, and the case management process with students of concerns lacked follow-up. Since then, Shane-Justin transformed UT Tyler’s BIT/CARE process. He overhauled departmental policies, protocol, and support systems to align with standards established in the field by NABITA. This includes implementing NABITA’s SIVRA-35, risk rubric, and sample outreach timeline in their daily operations.
What is one way Shane-Justin practices self-care doing such intense work?
Shane-Justin recently starting to take private golfing lessons to de-stress after a busy week. Before the Coronavirus pandemic, Shane-Justin also hosted a virtual book club with colleagues and peers from his previous institutions, where they formed a support system. Their most recent book was “Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others.” This book helped to address the secondary trauma Shane-Justin and his colleagues faced from their work.EATING… LOL. I practice self-care through trying new foods, experimenting with new cooking and baking recipes. I also implement strong boundaries, especially, while remote working. When 430pm HIT my computer is shut down and I implement auto relies and do not disturb features on my devices for work-related accounts.
How has having a BIT/CARE team improved the experience of students, staff, and faculty at your institution?
Using the resources provided through NABITA has helped establish standards with very high risk-level cases Shane-Justin had to address. Most importantly, this includes case follow-up with staff and faculty who reported incidents of suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, and threats of harm to oneself or others. To further address some of the needs expressed by institutional reporting parties, Shane-Justin created a “Faculty & Staff Emergency Guide” that assisted in reporting disruptive and threatening behaviors on a scale of mildly stressed to dysregulated behaviors. This guide helped with the reporting process and established protocols for reporting parties who wanted to assist with the case management process.Faculty and staff have shared that having our case management and BIT team is a relief. Our students have expressed gratitude for our support.
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