Advising and Counseling Council (ACC)
January 28th to 30th, 2015
Renton Technical College
Meeting Notes
8:30 to 9:00am
Renton Community College Welcome
June Stacey-Clemons, Vice President- Student Services
9:00am to 12:00pm
Professional Development: Mental Health First Aid
This session will present basic mental health concepts which can aid Advisors and
Counselors without professional licensure in identifying when a student’s needs
go beyond academic assistance and require further mental health support.
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Define Mental Illness
o Not all students with mental health issues are students in crisis. We need to provide
support for those that are, but keep in mind there are many students with some sort of
illness or disability that will never need crisis or escalated services.
o There is a “continuum of tolerance” for all of us. Those with a lot of experience have a
high level of tolerance, but our front line staff or faculty with limited experience are
going to have a low tolerance.
o 89% of professionals experience working with students with some sort of anxiety
disorder.
o Mental illness is a term that refers collectively to all diagnosable disorders which causes
an inability for a person to perform daily tasks, interferes with daily life.
Most common Psychiatric disabilities on campus
o Depression
o Bipolar Affective Disorder
o PTSD
o Borderline Personality Disorder
o Schizophrenia
o Anxiety Disorders
Outward signs suggesting possible psychiatric disorder
o Missing Class, very moody, low self-esteem, no pleasure in school work/activities.
Classroom challenges students experience
o Medication side effects: can cause drowsiness, fatigue, excessive thirst, blurred vision,
hand tremors, initiating interpersonal contact.
o When a student discloses that they haven’t taken their meds- have a conversation with
them about the pros and cons. This would be a good hand off point to Counseling.
Affirm that you hear their message, and reinforce that they should have measures in
place to cope, and if they share they do not, ask if they would like to meet with a
Counselor
o Functional Limitations: Screening environmental stimuli, sustaining concentration,
maintaining stamina, handling time pressures, interacting with others, fear of authority
figures, responding to change, severe test anxiety, responding to negative feedback.
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Cognitive: Short term memory, Time management, Self-talk (fears, failure, panic),
Extreme self-absorption, concentration problems.
Myths of Mental Illness
o People with mental illness are dangerous
o They are unpredictable
o When you learn someone has a disability it means you know all about them
Questions and scenarios from participants
o A strategy for front line staff would be to make sure they know who the “point of
contact” is for certain students. Some students need to have a singular person they work
with- other’s interactions will escalate the student and make situations worse instead of
better.
o Also for front line, give them process driven ways to work with students. 1. Listen, 2.
Assess, 3. Action Plan, 4. Closure
o Bellingham has “the little green button” that sits on the computer screen for any staff.
When pushed then it sends an alert to a core group on campus that can respond. Could
be BIT team or others. Step below calling campus security. Littlegreenbutton.com
o How to document: Be honest about what you saw- very objective, black and white
statements. “student’s voice was raised, slammed book down, walked out before we
could finish” instead of “She seemed really upset and mad, crazy”.
o If a student does disclose disability, it is our charge to make sure that we make an offer
for DSS services.
o Look for professional development opportunities, how to help students with mental
health issues get out into the community as productive members.
Strategies for Inclusion
 Teach to various learning styles
 Increase knowledge and acceptance of mental illness as a part of diversity
 Be able to set behavioral limits
 Know campus resources
 Know outside resources
 Work cooperatively with students
1:00pm-2:00pm
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Welcome to New ACC Members
A history of ACC & our meeting structure/purpose
Mentoring pair up opportunity
ACC is a council that reports to the Washington State Student Services Commission (WSSSC)
We have a yearly work plan which we then report out during summer back to WSSSC.
ACC is a place that allows us to share our concerns, issues and areas of best practices as they
relate to Advising and Counseling and a way to share across the college system.
Any concerns or areas that we want support in are then formally delivered to the Commission
which then supports or offers guidance back to the council or takes it further to legislators.
The task is to aid in the continued development of our students on a higher, state based level.
2:00pm-3:00pm
Reports from WSSSC, SBCTC, WSAC
SBCTC - Edward Esparza, Policy Associate, SBCTC
 Quite a few bills up in legislation right now regarding higher ed
 Jim Crab is retiring. Nancy Dick joining SBCTC as the Director for Workforce Education effective
February 9th.
 The debt of the McCrery Act is going to make for a lean legislative session. Key areas: transfer,
admissions, priority registration (call to provide it to family members and spouses of
active/retired VA), workforce.
 Asked for $17 million to Counseling and Advising Services. Not sure how it will land.
 STEM & MESA: SBCTC currently supports 6 MESA schools, asking for an expansion to 20 schools.
 Reverse transfer: this would allow students to earn their AA after transferring to the four year if
they transferred prior to receiving it. Questions should be directed to Joyce Hammer
jhammer@sbctc.edu
 Smarter Balance Exams: all the CCs and six BCs have agreed to use the 11th grade assessment
scores of “3” or “4” for enrollment in entry-level math and English without further placement
testing.
 CTC Link: …still happening…at some point…
 College Bound Scholarship program: 3rd group of students arriving on campuses this fall. Time to
recruit. WSAC can provide a spreadsheet with contact information for students in your area.
 SBCTC is implementing an Internship opportunity for CC students. Can be used to earn credit
toward a certificate or degree. Based in Olympia.
 Working Families Success network: Working with Achieving the Dream. Works to support for
low-income students and their families to achieve their academic goals.
 Upcoming Conferences & Events: CUSP Student Rally Day- Feb. 5th, Oregon Student Success and
Retention Conference- Feb. 5-6th, Engaging in Promising Practices Conference- Feb. 6-7th, 3rd
annual Diversity & Equity Conference- March 3rd, The ASSOCIATION conference- March 6th,
LGBTQ+ Summit- March 28th
WSAC - Jim West, WSAC
 Focus on WSAC is for students and achievement and how to create degrees, certs and goals that
support student success and hitting transition points.
 Holder of state Fin Aid/Need Grant: want to get all eligible students those funds. Over 30,000
that are eligible, but not enough $.
 There is legislation to systematize dual credit options for students. Want to eliminate the
difference in the costs involved between the programs so that students choose the program that
fits best, not the one that costs the least.
 Intercollege relations commission- under WA Council for High School/College Relations. Includes
Transfer Advisor workshop, HS Counselor Workshop, Dual Credit Commission. They are out for
catalog review. Now review for CCs and BCs.
 ATC: looking at AP alignment across the state.
 WA Council: Looking for new members. Created a general info sheet on their progress. Going to
include a MS Counselor on the board.
 ICRC: Handbook has been updated. Includes a history of the group.
 There is an Associate of Fine Arts workgroup exploring if it is of benefit to create a DTA for music.
 Foreign Language limits: are the limits hurting students? Or can it be opened up?
 PLA: over 12,000 student received credit for PLA. Anyone can join the workgroup.
Reports
WAAC
 Last meeting they had 35 people attend which was significantly larger than in the recent past.
 Talked about how CCs have started trend of dropping “community” from the name and the idea
of BA degrees in the CCs. There are many new BAs coming online. SBCTC has a list of current BA
degrees at the CCs.
 Discussed evening Advising hours, weekend advising hours.
 Have some available officer positions and want to have a campus representative for each college
for consistency in meeting attendance.
 NACADA regional conference is March 13-15th in Coeur d’Alene, ID.
Running Start
 Dual Credit workshop being offered Feb. 6th
 Running Start in the HS is not supported in this legislative session by our state agencies. Looking
at a broader bill to “level” the financial costs between all the programs so that students choose
based on what works best for them, not based on how much it will cost them. Removes the
under cutting that seems to be happening right now between two year and four year colleges.
High School 21/HSC
 No new report
WCTCCA
 Next mtg. April 27-28th. Arranging speakers. Would like to offer 6 CEUs.
 Have some questions they would like answered before agreeing to meet up with ACC bi-annually.
Would like to meet in the fall and if there would be CEUs available.
CTC Link
 Delayed
ARC
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Created a policy for transcription of courses that fall in different alternative credit categories (AP,
IB, PLA, etc.)
3:00pm-4:30pm
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Hot Topics Forum
ADA Compliance- postings and fiscal
What are other colleges doing to be in compliance? Best allies are Deb Casey and
Scott Copeland to gain support.
Records Confidentiality for Counseling and Advising
Bellingham- home grown database that has expanded from Counseling. It is a public
space that describes the type of student, the type of services. Originally for Perkins
funding.
We need to think about what do other staff want to know vs. need to know and public
inquire potential.
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How do you preserve the mental health record vs. the public area. Important to make
sure that the records are in very clear separate places. Is it acceptable to put it on a
state computer that is subject to public record requests.
How can/will this be handled in the new CTC Link software?
Hard to know how to respect the HIPPA requirements while also trying to utilize the
technology that is available on the rest of our campuses for other groups.
Topics for next time……
 BAS Implementation
 Online scheduling software (tools of the trade)
 Professional Development for Campuses (MH 1st Aid)
 Career Planning/Exploration
 Ex-Offender Challenges
 Advising VA with Fin Aid
 Career Ladders for Advisors (Clark College has a progression)
 Joint Council Meetings
 Training Structures of Staff Meetings
Friday, January 30th
8:30am – 9:30am
9:30am – 10:30am
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Technology Tools: Who’s Next Demonstration
Live demonstration of the Who’s Next software which manages student lines
and allows for tracking, detailed notes and reporting.
Tools of the Trade: Self-Placement in English 101
For those colleges that have a self-placement option, please bring information
about how a student self-places into ENGL 101 and what conversations/decisions
were made at your college to make that possible.
SPFCC: If students have a 3.5 HS English GPA then they can place directly into ENGL 101. Have
60 eligible, 27 registered and 22 passed ENGL 101 with a 3.0 GPA or above. 1 Failed (took online
class) and 1 withdrew. Of the rest, 14 are registered in 101 for winter qtr. Starting fall 2015, it is
a cumulative of 3.5 GPA or above. Transcript must be within 3 years of completion.
RTC: Getting ready to pilot this spring. Looking at confidence and comfort in English in making
placement. Asking six questions and based on answers they will place into ENGL 101 or into a
remedial course. Electronic questionnaire. They will also have to take the placement test, but
will not be used for placement- just comparison. The remedial are bucketed together- so they
can move once in the class. Pushing students to take the placement when they are looking to
have to take the class- puts the placement in the same timeframe as the course itself. Faculty
feel confidence is more a determining factor in success then placement on a diagnostic tool.
LCC: In math- the math dept. has worked with the HS math instructors to align math curriculum
to bring in HS transcript for math placement.
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It seems a good idea for the Council to do some work around expanding placement reciprocity
with any type of assessment and creating a proposal to move this forward to the Commission to
then go to State Board.
GCC: Using Proctor U which is an online proctoring service. Allows students to take the Compass
test off site. Costs the students $40.00 extra. Disadvantage that they can only take it once.
Math dept. uses WAMAP for placement with those that have taken higher level math.
10:30-11:30pm
Business meeting, parking lot items and final discussion
 Approve Fall 2014 minutes- Approved
 Treasurers Report:
o Need a way to provide accommodations for members that are
participating in the different groups. The Commission is looking
for a way to have identified funding and procedures for how to
request funding for the accommodations. This is for those
paying members who are identified within the council.
o Now also looking for a way to provide accommodations for those
that want to come participate as a visitor but are not members.
 ByLaws Review
o Will send out a copy to the listserv for everyone to be able to
look at. There will be an addendum to the ByLaws for the new
addition of accommodations requests.
 Spring Meeting Reminders
o Tacoma Community College
o April 29th, 30th & May 1st
o More details to come!
11:30pm– 12:30pm
Executive Planning Meeting/Executive Officers