Making Referrals

You will likely have opportunities to refer students to another resource for assistance. Making referrals effectively is a skill in its own right. For guidance on how to make effective referrals see this listing from the Academic Success Center. We have created a list of helpful campus resources which you will find below.

Additionally, we encourage both faculty & peers to complete the Kognito: Recognizing and Supporting Students in Distress Training in order to gain skills around mental health and suicide prevention. This is an interactive tool available to students, staff, and faculty that teaches how to identify signs and symptoms of emotional distress and helps you practice how to intervene in a caring and effective way.

Student Resources | OSU ExperienceFrom crisis support to academic coaching to recreational programming, there are loads of support services and opportunities to engage at OSU. Use the search function to find a resource by its name, or filter by the location and type of resource that you are seeking. Please review the provided websites or contact departments and offices directly for questions regarding services. 

Office of the Dean of Students: The Office of the Dean of Students is dedicated to providing educational and developmental opportunities for students to make informed decisions that support their success at Oregon State University. Learn how the office can help you navigate university resources, get assistance communicating with faculty about emergencies and understand your rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The Office of the Dean of Students houses a number of student-centered services and departments, including the Academic Success Center, the Human Services Resource Center and the Office of Student Orientation.

Equal Opportunity & AccessThe Office of Equal Opportunity and Access works to promote equity, inclusion and diversity at OSU by creating a comfortable and safe community for all individuals to participate in and enjoy. The office offers trainings on a variety of equity and inclusion-related topics.

  • Required & recommended reporting topics include: interpersonal violence or sexual misconduct; child abuse and neglect; and discrimination, harassment, bullying, or retaliation. For more information, see EOA’s information on the Responsible Employee Policy.

Office of Academic Support:

  • The Academic Success Center (ASC) provides support and services to help all students achieve their academic goals. ASC programs help students develop learning strategies and time management skills to excel in their coursework and stay on track to graduate.
  • The Writing Center offers four programs in support of Oregon State University student writing: The Undergrad Research & Writing Studio, The Graduate Writing Center, The Online Writing Suite and English Language Learning. Our peer writing tutors can help with all aspects of the writing process from brainstorming and organization to questions of grammar and usage.
  • University Exploratory Studies Program (UESP) is the academic home for students who are exploring their options before deciding on a major. UESP offers a comprehensive range of services to help students make informed decisions about their academic coursework and potential majors. UESP also serves Ecampus students.

Disability Access ServicesDisability Access Services facilitates access to university programs and services for students with disabilities through accommodations, education, consultation and advocacy. DAS provides support to all Oregon State University students, including on- and off-campus students and students at OSU-Cascades.

Undergraduate Research, Scholarship & the Arts (URSA)Undergraduate Research, Scholarship & the Arts (URSA) facilitates undergraduate engagement in scholarly and creative independent projects mentored by faculty in all disciplines.

Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFÉ)The Center for Advancing Financial Education (CAFE) invites all Oregon State students seeking support for anything related to their college finances (such as information on financial resources, ways to save, budgeting and financial planning) to take advantage of our services. The center offers one-on-one advising, financial literacy courses, workshops and self-study Canvas modules. Visit our website or email [email protected] for additional information.

Degree Partnership ProgramThe Degree Partnership Program (DPP) promotes educational attainment and bachelor's degree completion by allowing students to be jointly admitted and concurrently enrolled at Oregon State University and Oregon or Hawaii community colleges. Learn More about our program, goals, and how to become a partner.

Office of Financial AidThe Office of Financial Aid is here to assist making your dreams of a quality education come true. We recognize that college is a big investment for you and your family. Our office can help you navigate the cost of your education, financial aid and other forms of financial support, debt management solutions, plus emergency resources.

Scholarship OfficeOregon State University recognizes student excellence, diversity, and achievement through an array of scholarship opportunities. The Scholarship Office serves all recipients of OSU scholarships and works to increase opportunities for access, provide financial guidance to students and families, and encourage engagement and research throughout our state, our nation, and our world.

Diversity & Cultural EngagementDiversity & Cultural Engagement (DCE) brings students together for out-of-classroom experiences that build bridges to community and support your ability to change the world. Through our programming and cultural resource centers, DCE enriches your personal growth and development while fostering belonging.

Dreaming Beyond Borders Resource CenterThe Dreaming Beyond Borders Resource center aims to create a safe, supportive, welcoming and inclusive space for undocumented students and students from mixed status families at Oregon State University. The center refers students to support resources such as academic, legal and health resources; provides educational and social programming, including access to Educational Opportunities Program academic counselors; works closely with Here to Stay and other student advocacy groups; and develops allies through educational events, trainings and partnerships.

Student Experiences & EngagementThrough our many programs, Student Experiences & Engagement provides hands-on experiences that can help you find a sense of belonging, build skills for employability, challenge your heart and mind, make new connections, amplify your strengths, help you connect to purpose, lift your spirit and support you living your best life.

Transfer Student ResourcesThere are many OSU resources available to students that can help with the cultural, academic, and personal transition to OSU.

Counseling & Psychological ServicesCommitted to improving students’ lives through counseling, resources for managing stress and improving self-esteem, and mindfulness practices, Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is here to help you flourish. CAPS offers many online wellness resources and remote services, including on-going individual counseling and the Single Session Clinic for one-time appointments focused on a particular concern or problem.

Basic Needs CenterThe Basic Needs Center is here to support you. We provide textbook access, laptop and calculator lending and food assistance. Contact the center for peer support to help you identify and apply to resources.

Student Health ServicesStudent Health Services offers a broad range of clinical and prevention services, including primary care services, wellness coaching and educational outreach.

Center for Advocacy, Prevention & EducationThe Survivor Advocacy & Resource Center (SARC) and the interpersonal violence prevention team have joined together to form the Center for Advocacy, Prevention & Education (CAPE). CAPE will operate through a multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach to provide a continuum of programs and services designed to prevent interpersonal and gender-based violence and to support survivors. 

  • For safe, confidential advocacy services, call 541-737-2030 or send an email to the advocacy team. Our in-office hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday. If calling after hours, select option 1 from the phone menu to leave a confidential voicemail, or option 2 to reach the 24/7 confidential advocacy hotline with our community partner CARDV.

  

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Troubleshooting & guidance on some of our most frequent questions and challenges

Communication

Often! If you haven't had a response in 72 hours, try a follow up. Try setting expectations for when you need a response - "let me know by Friday" and then follow up after that deadline has passed.

Use as many techniques as possible to connect - it is much easier to get students to attend meetings and engage once they have met you and made a personal connection.

Yes, it is okay to ask. However, you cannot expect students to share personal contact information - it must be optional. You are also not required to share or use your own personal contact information.

Other options to consider:

In some cases students have shared their personal contact information to use if we are unable to get a response from their OSU email addresses - we can share this information with you after the first 2 weeks of the term.

It is best to talk honestly about your expectations at the very beginning of the relationship, however, you can talk about this at any time. You should seek to agree on practical details of the relationship such as:

  • Frequency of meetings

  • Time commitment

  • Format of meetings

  • What to do if you can’t attend a meeting

  • What to do if you miss a meeting

  • Communication preferences & expectations for use & response time

Talk about the expectations you each have for how the meetings will go and what hopes and goals you have for the mentoring relationship. It is important that you allow time for each person to summarize their expectations, even if they aren’t sure what to say. You should talk about any limitations you have as well. Finally, it is good practice to establish goals in a written format if possible, so that everyone has something to refer back to over the course of the year. The Mentoring Agreement is a useful document for this purpose.

You may need to reevaluate your expectations and format over time - it is a good idea to talk about what may be working and what may not be working, at least with your co-mentor, once each term so that you can determine what changes may need to be made. Other resources on this topic to review: Setting Boundaries in Mentoring Relationships NIH-HHS Mentoring Program & Structuring the Mentoring Relationship: Learning Pearls for Mentors and Mentees.

Although there is no one proven method that works for everyone, some teams have relied on different scheduling tools to help find times to meet that work for their teams. The three most commonly referenced by peer mentors are:

This program assumes that unless a student actively fills out the withdrawal form or lets you know directly that they no longer want to participate, they are still in the program. If you have consistently reached out for 4 weeks with no responses whatsoever, you can change tactics to providing biweekly emails to your students with pertinent information - sort of a 'tip of the week' style of message. Brainstorm topics with your co-mentor and plan out the remainder of the term, with the goal of reengaging with two-way communication again in the following term.

Responsiveness

  1. See Top Tips for Good Communication under the Best Practices & Tips section

  2. Try other communication methods (Teams, social media, text if you have it)

  3. Send out a few suggested times rather than asking for schedules

  4. Schedule a meeting time based on you & co-mentor's schedules and see if they show up

  5. Change the subject line

  6. Vary your communication style - always send long emails? Try sending a short one

  7. Try inviting them to an event or activity rather than a meeting

  8. Remember to be patient & understanding - students who haven't shown up yet are unlikely to do so in future if they feel ashamed or chastised

Don't lose momentum - after a reasonable wait time to see if others respond, schedule a meeting time based on the schedules that you have and email the others the info too and see if they show up.

  • You might try a "Tuesday works for the rest of the group, does that work for you?" email if there's enough time.

Make sure you have reasonable and agreed upon expectations - it is important to talk about who is expected to email who and how long to wait for a reply before sending a reminder email.

That said, if a reasonable time has passed and you still have not heard from them after sending a reminder, contact the Program Coordinator directly.

Don't be discouraged - these are new students and many factors might be at play. What if something came up last minute? What if they forgot? What if there was an emergency? What if they were intimidated/anxious about meeting with a faculty member for the first time? What if they simply need more practice at making and keeping appointments?

Allow as much grace to each other as possible. Send out a "we missed you" message, or try reaching out with a personal touch that shows your concern and understanding that things come up. When you've made initial contact in person, set clear expectations about canceling and rescheduling.

Unfortunately, no. Typically we see some attrition from this program, some of which will happen right away and some which will happen as time goes on. Often teams will ask the Program Coordinator to intervene in hopes that this will make students show up or respond. In most cases, students who are completely absent and not responding to mentor messages will also ignore the Program Coordinator. Those who have begun a relationship with their mentors are much more likely to respond to their mentors than they are to someone they do not know personally (i.e. the Program Coordinator).

At the end of each term, the Program Coordinator will reach out to students who have lost touch with their teams (based on participation data from the peer mentor) in order to encourage them to reengage, and we encourage you to do the same. For a variety of reasons students may disengage from this program during their first term at OSU if they feel overwhelmed or stretched too thinly, so it is important that these students know that they are welcome back for a fresh start even if they haven’t been as engaged as originally expected.

Engagement

Engagement Ideas:

  • Try something from our Keeping it Interesting list under the Best Practices & Tips section
  • Ask students to identify goals or topics of interest
  • Explore identities & things of personal significance
  • Schedule "walking meetings" for exploration or field trips
  • Incorporate ice breakers

If your group begins to go off topic, you can redirect them back to the original topic. Remember that you have a limited time together as a mentor group, so staying on topic is a useful strategy to be respectful of everyone's time.

A few scenarios:

  • "I love that you all are talking about your weekend plans! This makes me feel like we are becoming a cohesive group. I want to be respectful of everyone's time, though, so let's move forward with ... and then whoever would like to can stay after and chat!"

There may be times when the conversation does not need to be redirected, because whatever came up naturally in discussion is more pertinent to the timing of the term. In this case, if you feel that the original topic is still important you can acknowledge this by moving it forward to another time or meeting:

  • "I realize that finals can be overwhelming, and I'm so glad you all are able to share ideas for time management! Let's take the rest of this meeting to talk about time management and preparing for finals, and then we can come back to our original topic if there's time or pick it back up at the next meeting."

When asking a question, set the participation expectations at the beginning. For example:

  • "I'd like everyone to contribute one idea, either verbally or through chat, on how they manage stressful times, such as finals week, and then we'll discuss these as a group."

Acknowledge what the student is saying, and then redirect the conversation to another student. For example:

  • "Absolutely! Self-care is a great way to manage stress during finals week, and it sounds like your yoga practice really helps you in this area. How about someone else? What are some things that YOU do to manage the stress during finals week?"

If you find that you have one student who takes the lead in conversations more than others, it might be helpful to try out some strategies that give students more active responsibility in the meetings. For example, you could ask your students to rotate taking notes during the meeting so that they can be distributed to everyone after the meeting is over. This will also give you an opportunity to redirect individuals during the meeting itself, by asking them if they were able to write down what another student said.

Another idea is to give the students the opportunity to “lead” the meetings on a rotating basis. This centers the students as experts in their own learning and gives them each an opportunity to think critically about what they want to talk about during their assigned week. They do not need to teach others about a topic, rather they can be in charge of choosing what topic gets addressed, or where the meeting takes place, or some other aspect of the meetings that allows the students to feel ownership of that particular week.

First, it is important to remember that when a student shares something personal or private, it may mean they trust and feel comfortable with the person/people they are telling. This is a good thing! Always validate and thank the person for sharing. This might also mean that they need support or resources but aren't sure who to talk to, or it might mean that they simply want someone to listen.

In a 1 on 1 setting it is important to let the student know that certain topics may require you to disclose this information to another person - if possible, try to share this requirement (gently) before the student has shared the information that must be reported so that they can retain ownership, agency, and choice over their story.

In a group setting personal sharing can be more challenging but it may also provide an opportunity to discuss individual definitions of personal and professional topics, and to discuss what type of environment you collectively imagine your mentoring team to be. If something personal and sensitive comes up, you may wish to offer to discuss the topic in a more private setting, or help them find the right person or support that they need. It is important to remember to offer options, rather than decide for them what they should do next.

A note on privacy versus confidentiality: Mentors should strive to keep information shared during meetings private, however, most OSU employees cannot maintain confidentiality on matters pertaining to student safety, misconduct, or discrimination. For more information on Employee Reporting Responsibilities, please contact the office of Equal Opportunity & Access.

Typically, we do not move students after they have been added to a team for scheduling reasons. We have on occasion reached out to students with unexpected scheduling issues to see if they want to be moved or simply wait until the next term when scheduling will change again, and each time the students have wished to stay with their original team. We believe this is because they’ve already formed an attachment to your team and would like to stay connected even if their schedule doesn’t permit them to attend meetings during a particular term.

As mentors, we recommend that you make efforts to rearrange schedules so that all members can be present for meetings, however we also understand that this can cause additional strain. If alternate arrangements can be made to meet with a portion of the team on certain weeks and the other team members on off weeks, that is certainly encouraged! We recommend that you still aim to offer a maximum of 5 hours of your time, even if not all students can attend each meeting, to avoid overtaxing the faculty and peer mentor commitment.

Peer Mentor Job Duties

This position requires an average of 10 hours/term for fall, winter, and spring terms, with additional time needed for trainings at the start of the year. Student Employees are hired and paid through the Student Employment system. If you are a current peer mentor looking for more detailed information, please review the information shared with you during training/recruitment or reach out to the Program Coordinator for more on the hire and pay process.

The Program Coordinator considers communication and email responsiveness as "participation" in the program. Any students who have been responsive to your communication efforts, regardless of their physical presence in meetings, should be recorded as "responsive". Only record those who you've not heard from at all in a two week period in the unresponsive category.

The Biweekly Participation Form is set up to be filled out at the end of every two weeks, regardless of your meeting frequency, and references the previous two weeks to gauge the responsiveness of your team over that time period. If you miss a biweekly form you can fill it out at a later time - just remember to reference the responsiveness of your students to reflect that of the appropriate period.

It is important to recognize signs that students may be struggling or may need help. This may include not showing up to meetings or not responding to phone calls, texts, or emails. As you build relationships with students you may discover some information that raises alarm for you or your co-mentor. Even if this is a small alarm, such as the student disclosing that they are having arguments with a roommate, you can relay these concerns to the Program Coordinator through the Concern Form at any time for support. This form has optional fields meaning that it can be filled out anonymously and/or without information immediately identifying the student in the concerning situation, in case you want support directed to you rather than outreach going directly to the student from the Program Coordinator. If you aren't sure whether it is important, please fill out the form just in case! 

Keep in mind that certain information pertaining to student safety must be reported. If you have questions about your responsibilities as an employee of the university please contact the Program Coordinator. See also the information under "What do I do if a student shares something personal or private?" above.

If a student contacts you and wishes to withdraw from the program, you should fill out the withdrawal form and refer them to fill out the form as well. You filling out the form serves as notification to the Program Coordinator to follow up in case the student does not follow through with the form on their end. You do not need to include them in communication efforts after they have asked to withdraw.

If you have not heard from a student over the course of a term, you may wish to include a link to the withdrawal form in case the students no longer want to participate but are unaware of the option to do so. It is important to do so tactfully, so that students who were simply unable to participate for a time do not feel pushed to leave the program. Please feel free to discuss the specifics of your situation with the Program Coordinator to determine if and when to include a link to the form in your communications.

While this job expects a commitment for the full academic year, we do understand that unexpected changes may arise that require you to resign. Please email the Program Coordinator as soon as you know so that a transition plan can be put in place for your team. It is helpful to know the status of your other team members and whether you have addressed this with your co-mentor yet and if you would like assistance in doing so.

While we are able to work with students who need to step back for short periods of time and may return to their positions, those that must step away for a full term and be replaced by a new peer mentor will be added back to a waitlist rather than added directly back to their former team so as not to disrupt the new dynamics.

If your team is not meeting you can remain on payroll as long as you wish in case another placement arises. You will be paid for the term that you use to share resources with students, but it is not recommended to continue trying to reach fully unresponsive teams for more than 1 term. Those without active teams may be asked to complete other work for the program as it arises, such as contributing to training materials or event planning, but there is no guarantee of available work outside of team placements.