Schlossberg’s 4 "S’s" to Mentor & Guide: Situation (2/5)

Situation

Consider the following while using Socratic questioning when addressing the student concerning the SITUATION:

Trigger: What was the cause of the change?

Timing: Do you consider the event occurring at a good or bad time?

Control: Do you feel in control of the situation, change, transition, event?

Role: Is the change dealing with a particular role that you play/hold? Why do you see this as positive or negative?

Duration: Do you see this situation as temporary, permanent, or are they unsure?

Previous Experience: How have you dealt with a similar change in the past? How did you fare? How can the experience be connected to this current situation?

Concurrent Stress: Are you under stress from multiple sources?

Talking the student through the above situational questions can potentially further clarity for the student increasing the potential for growth and a positive outcome for all. 

An example may be, if one of your students graduated high school early and is now college freshman when peers are still high school seniors, this could present as a conundrum on your watch.  Timing needs to be considered; even though the timing is atypical, does the student see this timing as positive or negative.  This change or transition, in all probability, would be seen as positive from the students perspective, but the situation has the other factors to consider as well.  Are their parental stressors? Does the student feel in control or does he/she feel controlled by a parent or spouse in this situation? Academic success potentially precipitated this transition and role change into a younger college student.  Does the student see that this is temporary? Historical academic success has probably precipitated this event, therefore there is a probability that the student has been in a similar situation previously which plays a part in effectively coping.