The Advising & Supporting (A/S) competency is based on the betterment of others. Every person is growing, adapting, and changing to the world around them. Part of our responsibility as Student Affairs professionals is to guide students. The ACPA and NASPA explain that the Advising & Supporting competency centers on "providing advising and support to individuals and groups through direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance" (2015,  p. 36). This could range from offering advice to a freshman student on which professor to take for a class to setting up a mock interview for a graduating senior for their dream job. The core of this competency is to support the students in the ways they feel best supported.

As of June 2024, I would place myself at the intermediate level of this competency. I have practiced pieces of the intermediate level that I believe would put me in the beginning to middle stage of this level. 

As a Resident Assistant, my job centered around advising and supporting students. Building a relationship is the first step to building trust so at the beginning of each year, I would make “care packages” for each of my residents. This was a simple gesture to show that I cared about each one of them. From there, my residents were more willing to ask me questions.  Whether this was a question about what clubs to join or if they should drop out of college, I was the first person my residents would go to if they had questions. I would always give them my opinion first and then refer them to various campus resources if they had more in-depth questions. I had one resident who struggled with studying so we met to develop goals for studying. This provided me with an opportunity to mentor her and model my study skills. After we struggled to see growth, we met with campus resources to find more strategies. In the end, the resident and I had an in-depth conversation about her desire to be in school and she settled on withdrawing with the plan of returning when her mental health state was better. I made sure she knew that I supported her and she was content with her decision. The following year, she re-enrolled in school and has been doing well since then. 

Furthermore, I have conducted numerous roommate mediations where I had to listen to both sides of the argument and facilitate conversations about the differences between individuals. In some instances, this led to room changes when the situation was deemed unsafe for one of the roommates. I managed a situation like this and throughout the process, I advocated for her to receive support from our mental health center as well as our disability center to help her receive the support she needed to succeed at school. This instance led to my organizing mental wellness-based programming in our hall so that our residents and my fellow  Resident Assistants would have more strategies to use when they are feeling stressed. 

Overall, I believe that the Advising and Supporting competency is an area that I thrive in and have a great passion for. As I move into my role as a Graduate Hall Director, I will have a multitude of opportunities to practice and improve my skills in advising and supporting students. Whether they are my Resident Assistants or the residents in my building, I will continue to provide advice and support my students in the ways they appreciate the most.

In August of  2022, I took an online at-risk mental health training called Kognito. This simulation-based training is designed to strengthen conversation skills and enhance mental health literacy.  Some of the training elements focused on using conversation starters, asking questions to understand a student's well-being, noticing emotional distress, and referring to a mental health professional. 

To grow through professional development opportunities the next step for me would be to lead or develop a training opportunity. Since I have some experience in mental health training, I would like to find opportunities to lead and empower others through mental health initiatives. Furthermore, I would like to learn more about strategies that demonstrate culturally inclusive advising and supporting. 

As of December 2025, I would place myself firmly in the higher end of the intermediate level of the Advising and Supporting competency. I have a solid understanding of this competency and have had several opportunities to demonstrate this learning. However, there are some areas in which I am lacking in which is why I place myself on the upper level of intermediate as opposed to the starting level of advanced.  According to the ACPA NASPA Professional Competencies, the Advising and Supporting (A/S) competency focuses on “providing advising and support to individuals and groups through direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 36). The A/S competency strives to acknowledge the needs of others, the students we oversee, and ourselves, as well as improve the current skills used to help these individuals succeed. 

During my time as a Graduate Hall Director, I have been able to advise and supervise three different club organizations: Residence Hall Association, Society of Housing Leaders (formerly National Residence Hall Honorary), and the Judicial Board. In each of these experiences, I was either directing overseeing a specific member of the executive board or all individuals. These boards ranged from two to six individuals, and I directly advised two executive board members. I hosted weekly meetings to ensure all responsibilities were being met, as well as conducted general wellness check-ins with them. I was able to coach my advisees in goal-setting and decision-making processes. This was particularly evident when I had to develop a success plan with a student after failing to make grades the previous semester. I worked with this advisee to meet both their educational and executive board goals. During one-on-one sessions, we also explored different mental health and wellness supports for times when he got overwhelmed.  

During my time as a Graduate Hall Director, I have been able to supervise two distinctly different Resident Assistant and Front Desk Staff teams. These opportunities have really allowed me to further strengthen my experience in this competency. With my first RA and FD teams, I was more hands-on. I led additional specialized trainings to ensure they felt comfortable in their roles, especially in the events of advising students, problem-solving, and managing student crises. With my second team, I noticed my staff craved more social and personalized interactions. This led me to offer more team bonding opportunities and individualized training to further strengthen skills that my staff team already possessed. 

During the time spent in SAA706, the Advising Session project was the most meaningful to me. I was able to provide guidance and support to one of my staff members through a one-on-one meeting. This experience allowed me to reflect on my current advising style and where I could improve. One of the pieces of feedback that I will take with me is to structure my advising sessions more so that the conversation flows better. I excelled in building rapport with my RA as well as using skills such as active listening, micro-counseling, and open-ended questions. As I continue to grow in this skill, I will strive to learn more techniques for supporting and advising students in ways that will help them become more successful.

American College Personnel Association & National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. (2015). ACPA/NASPA professional competency areas for student affairs educators. 

American College Personnel Association & National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. (2016). ACPA/NASPA professional competencies rubrics.