Trauma-Informed Care and Community Well-Being: Insights from Adam Jussel's Research and Initiatives

SA Voices From the Field

In this week's bonus episode of the SA Voices From the Field Podcast, host Dr. Jill Creighton engaged in a thought-provoking discussion with guest Adam Jussel, the Dean of Students at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Through their conversation, Jussel provided valuable insights into the complexities of trauma-informed care and the profound impact it can have on individuals within a university setting. This blog post aims to delve deeper into the essential topics discussed during the episode, shedding light on the challenges and strategies related to addressing stress and trauma within a campus community.

Exploring the Impact of the Pandemic on Mental Health

Adam Jussel shared compelling findings from a study conducted on mental health among university employees during the pandemic. The research revealed alarming statistics, with 36% of participants screening positive for post-traumatic stress disorder and over 40% experiencing extreme stress or near-extreme stress. This data underscores the profound impact of the pandemic on the mental well-being of university staff and faculty.

Identifying Contributing Factors and Mitigating Strategies

The study identified various factors that contributed to heightened stress and trauma, including the challenges of caregiving, social isolation, uncertainty about the future, and the lack of tools to mitigate stress. Additionally, political and civic strife in the United States emerged as a significant contributor to exacerbating trauma and stress during the pandemic. On the other hand, the study also highlighted several mitigating factors, such as the presence of a strong social support network, spending time outside, physical activity, a sense of purpose, and meaningful experiences in work.

Implementing Trauma-Informed Care Frameworks

Adam Jussel emphasized the value of trauma-informed care and highlighted the creation of a trauma-informed care toolkit and workshops for the campus community. This proactive approach aimed at providing support, understanding, and resources for individuals impacted by trauma. The utilization of the campus cares framework facilitated the elevation of the frontline and mid-level staff's experience, fostering a culture of care across the university.

The Role of Meaningful Work in Mitigating Trauma

Jussel's discussion on the concept of the meaning of work and its potential to mitigate stress and trauma sheds light on the importance of cultivating a sense of purpose within the workforce. The ongoing research on this topic holds promising implications for the development of strategies to enhance the overall well-being of individuals in the workplace. Updates on Key Events in the NASPA World: The episode also provided informative updates on notable events within the NASPA world, including an upcoming national symposium and the 2024 NASPA virtual conference. This illustrates a commitment to fostering professional development and networking opportunities within the higher education community.

Closing Thoughts

The eye-opening conversation between Dr. Jill Creighton and Adam Jussel sheds light on the compelling work being done to address stress and trauma within university settings. It underscores the importance of implementing trauma-informed care frameworks and cultivating a supportive environment for faculty, staff, and students. As we navigate the complexities of the modern world, these insights serve as a beacon of hope, guiding us towards creating inclusive and empathetic communities within educational institutions.

In conclusion, the podcast episode featuring Adam Jussel serves as a valuable resource, offering actionable insights for those involved in community support and trauma-informed care within educational environments. By acknowledging the challenges and opportunities in this space, we can collectively work towards creating nurturing and resilient communities.

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:02]: Welcome to student affairs voices from the field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. This is season 9 on transitions in student affairs. This podcast is brought to you by NASPA, And I'm Dr. Jill Creighton, she, her, hers, your essay voices from the field host. Adam, welcome to the show.

Adam Jussel [00:00:24]: Hey. Hey. Thank you so much for having me.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:26]: I'm glad to see you again. For our listeners, Adam and I, like many of our guests, have known each other in the field for what feels like Not a short time anymore.

Adam Jussel [00:00:36]: Long time. Not a long time. Yeah. But we were very, very briefly colleagues at Washington State way back in the day. I think probably feels like a past life for both of us at this point.

Adam Jussel [00:00:45]: Lots of gray hairs between, then and now.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:48]: Well, Adam, you're currently at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. We always love to start to get to know our guests by asking you, how did you get to your current seat?

Adam Jussel [00:00:56]: Thank you for asking. A lot of people ask someone from the Pacific Northwest ends up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and it's totally by Both random set of circumstance and the profession. And so was it in the assistant dean of students role, director of student conduct at Washington State University, He was looking for a change, looking to move. I we joke that we wanted to be within at least a 20 minute drive of a Trader Joe's, and so looking for a little thing that was a little more Urban, public Washington, as you well know, not exactly the bustling city environment, so we wanted to try something new. And we're We're looking around the country really just to make a move, and UWM fit the bill both because of its access mission, and it is a research one institution. I have been in this role for a little over 4 years, and I am the dean of students and associate vice chancellor of student affairs.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:01:46]: So I like to Say that, you know, for me, civilization, as I learned in Pullman, was having an airport, a Target, and a Chipotle. I didn't know that about myself until I moved there. But as I was there, There was a Chipotle that opened right before the pandemic started, and then a Target came in, like, a year later. And they're getting a new airport, like, this month. So

Adam Jussel [00:02:06]: Wonderful place. Still have lots of friends there. Met my now partner there, and and WSU is a great place to live and work for nearly 10 years. So, yeah, that Pullman, Washington. Go check it out if you haven't.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:17]: Well, if you're not checking out the police, you should also check out Adam's research, and that's really what we're gonna be talking with Adam today. You spent a lot of the pandemic focusing on trauma informed care, and that's really a core ethos for what you're doing in the DOS role At University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, for those of you who wanna go dive a little deeper, you can check out the trauma informed toolkit on the Dean of Students website for University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. But, also, Adam, you have a new article out with some coauthors that I'm excited to dig into today. This article can be found in psychological trauma theory research practice and policy journal, and it's coauthored by Elaine Goldstein, Dimitri Topotaz, and Roger Brown. Title of the article is mental health among university employees during the COVID nineteen pandemic, the role of previous life trauma and current post traumatic stress symptoms, which is a very, very long title. I know a lot of our listeners are like, are we done talking about the pandemic? But I think this is actually a really important topic as we transition into a post pandemic era for higher education for our students and for the field. So why don't you go ahead and break down on what this means in really simple terms. Start.

Adam Jussel [00:03:26]: Thanks for the opening. Was really blessed to work on this research and continuing to work on this research, with those great colleagues, Dimitri, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. And during the early phases of the pandemic, We had, like, a lot of campuses, really robust emergency operation command tactical response To what our students, faculty, and staff were experiencing as it relates to the pandemic. So we had testing protocols, and we had isolation and quarantine Processes. We had testing centers and then ultimately vaccination clinics. All of these kind of very operational pieces, but one element that was missing was, It may seem cliche to say, but it was the heart. You know, what were the psychosocial emotional experiences of our students? And really what this research digs into is the staff and We attempted to frame this work as the campus is an ecosystem. We can't care for our students unless we are carried for ourselves.

Adam Jussel [00:04:23]: At least that's That's the way I kind of approached it. So the impetus for this work and the trauma informed care approach was under the hypothesis that we know that these jobs were stressful pre pandemic. Anybody listening to the student affairs focused podcast has moments where they said, hey, gosh. This job is so stressful. I feel like I'm burnt out. I feel like I'm Front line interacting with some really heavy stuff. And that the pandemic, at least we debated that. So we wanted to dig into the anecdotal experiences that folks were telling us about and really see what the research bore out using primarily, at least initially survey data.

Adam Jussel [00:04:59]: That was kind of the genesis of this of this project.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:05:02]: I think you make some really important points. We saw the mass exodus from the field post pandemic, with the great resignation, it deeply affected all industries and certainly student affairs. And anecdotally, one of the things we heard is the field asks Too much of people for not enough compensation. That's a constant theme, in student affairs. And so tell us about how your research really shown a light on how our profession was reacting. And I think one of the things that I appreciate about your article as well is that it really broke it down by identifiable factors curves of who you are in the profession and how it affected you differently.

Adam Jussel [00:05:37]: Yeah. So for folks that ultimately direct people to read the article, but just kind of a cliff notes is We had nearly 650 recipients, 636 participants in our survey. Those scaffold across divisions, departments, Anywhere in the institution, but was focused only on staff and faculty because we really wanted to hone in on that experience. And of those 636 participants, a large amount, 36%. We use a post traumatic stress disorder screening tool. It's a metric that we use. 36% produced a positive post traumatic stress disorder screen As it related to pandemic related impacts. And so that doesn't mean that they have post traumatic stress disorder.

Adam Jussel [00:06:14]: It just simply means that a screening tool identified them. There would be follow-up from A clinician or someone in the field to identify that and hone further, but that number was staggering to us. 36% is a high number. What illuminated it further was that over 40% experienced extreme stress or near extreme stress, so that's not your stress and trauma are different things. And we use that data To paint a picture to campus leadership, to the community members of what has the experience been, what can we use data to inform practices and principles. And And it really was a catalyst to all of us on campus of we need to care for people that are serving our students. So there's some really interesting mitigating factors that we found as well and and other risk factors that I could dive into if it's interesting. But this first element was just identifying awareness around the problem.

Adam Jussel [00:07:06]: What are the issues we're facing, and what are those challenges? I

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:07:08]: think that would be great if you can talk more about what are those mitigating and aggravating factors for predictors of stress.

Adam Jussel [00:07:15]: Yeah. And don't let me go down a rabbit hole on on this too much, but the risk factors so being a caregiver was a risk factor for a positive post traumatic stress disorder screen. Caregiver is broader than just parent or guardian. So we have staff and faculty that have, obviously, their parents or guardians, but we also have staff and faculty that Have a loved one in their home that they're they're caring for, so caregiving was a risk factor. Social isolation, all of us experienced Some level of social isolation in the pandemic. And one of the tragedies of the pandemic, and other folks have said this in various different ways, is that It attacks the number 1 mitigator for trauma experiencing trauma, which is a strong social support network. And not having that mechanism at place, I think a lot of us experience, at least it's born out in our data, that that social isolation was a really a key factor for exacerbating stress and possibly trauma. The other thing that, was interesting was The uncertainty of the future.

Adam Jussel [00:08:08]: When we've provided some trauma informed care workshops to students, 1 student stood out to me and said, if I knew that this would end on a certain date, If I could if you could tell me 6 months from now, pandemic over, pick a date, December, whatever, the students said I could bear that. I could understand that there's a finish line. I could Stack goals around that, but the uncertainty and kind of the wave of uncertainty was an exacerbating factor and a risk factor.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:31]: So I've been working in China for the last 2 years or so. And that was a real thing here because the pandemic controls and mechanisms that we all face were very different than what was happening in the west. And then our students and our faculty and staff were going through 3 to 7 COVID tests, a week depending on what was going on. And then, you know, there were points where our faculty and staff were locked on the campus with our students and didn't leave for 2 or 3 months. And that environment is the exact Same messaging where, you know, if we knew that, you know, we had to do this for 60 days, we could mark our time. We could set goals. We could mentally prepare for what that's like. But when that endpoint doesn't exist.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:11]: It really creates a sense of dread and a little bit of doom.

Adam Jussel [00:09:15]: Yeah. Your experience, I appreciate you sharing that is A ton of follow-up questions, of course, of of that experience as it relates to this. But one thing I heard there was, hey. The tools that we have at our disposal to mitigate this might diminished, which is I can't see family and friends. I can't go for a walk outside. Maybe there are instances where that was possible, maybe not, but I can't go to the gym. I can't you know, there's all kinds of things that were eliminated by virtue of the pandemic, and it sounds like not so dissimilar in in your experience, but probably very dissimilar very, December at the same time.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:49]: Well, and to be fair, I was not one of the team members that was on campus in the lockdown, but my staff was. I mean, that's because I I wasn't here yet during kind of that deepest period of time. But I hear from a lot of them too that, you know, it was just things like, I would really love a piece of fresh fruit, And that would that simple piece of health care would have been really, really mitigating for them. So I'd love to hear more about what those mitigating factors were.

Adam Jussel [00:10:14]: Thanks for sharing that and asking. So the mitigating factors I already named one was the strong social support network. On the network of care, feeling like there are places and People you can turn to for help and support that you're not alone. Really big factors when someone is experiencing trauma or stress. Time outside, So being outside in nature and time with pets was significant. I would say time outside with pets is probably doubly good, but those were some massive Mitigating factors at least at a high level, and then you can dive in further in the research and literature and being physically active, having a purpose in life, Which really connects to the additional research we're doing currently, which is just having a meaningful experience in your work environment, What we call making meaning, does that is that a mitigator to stress and trauma? There's all kinds of research on the value of having a vision and a purpose, An identity bigger than yourself, and we're trying to connect it to the trauma field a little bit. And we're using a mixed method study to do that, and it's It's really fascinating what people are saying in our focus groups, and that's exciting work that I can talk about as well if you'd like me to.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:11:18]: Someone asked a question about your research design, especially for any of our listeners who are pursuing their own Dr.ates. This is a time where you're trying to measure trauma and stress where the pandemic was not the only trauma and stressor serve for a US audience. It was a a wild time to be a person in the United States from

Adam Jussel [00:11:34]: Yes. Yep.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:11:36]: Regardless of where you are on Any particular political spectrum, that was a wild time. It kinda still is a wild time. I just I don't feel it as much because I'm not there on a daily basis right now. But how did you tease apart as researchers the difference between the impact from COVID nineteen and the other influencing factors in the world?

Adam Jussel [00:11:55]: Yeah. In the study, we know that the political and civic strife that was being experienced by a lot of folks in the United States, regardless of what political affiliation that a person had actually were exacerbating factors as it related to trauma and stresses really in the pandemic. And the way that we separated out in the in the studies, we actually, you know, Segmented out of the questions, and then we're very specific about the questions that we asked that were related to the pandemic versus the questions we had about Ancillary things, including that civic and political strike. But we do note in there that other factors were definitely at play, and and we know this just from our personal experiences that You can't really isolate an individual and say, well, what about this is one thing that is stressor? We we are meaning making machines that come in, and we bring our holistic experience. And reflected in our data too is that folks that had other health and financial stressors, other you know, I already said financial stressors, but That there were certain instances that no combination of mitigating factors could protect them against the negative implications of the pandemic, Which means that sometimes for the individuals that participated in the study, it was just too much, and there was nothing that they could have done without intense professional care. I can't. And this is something we're very careful about. I could tell someone to go walk their dog 6,000 times, and if they have experienced a level of stress and potentially trauma, though, those Tools, at least in our data, weren't weren't helpful.

Adam Jussel [00:13:18]: So, yes, it's good to acknowledge the context in which we participated in the study.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:13:22]: Well, and sometimes not just Not helpful to suggest some of these more surface level components of care, but also could be seen as Literally uncaring as a leader of an organization or not just seen as, but could be literally uncaring because there's a big difference between, you know, the collective stress and collective trauma we were all going through that was abnormal from our daily lives compared with people that already had their plates very, very full. And then at that Age old meme where it's like, oh, you're experiencing a difficult work environment? Well, let's have a pizza party. That's not what we need to solve of some of these big issues. And one of the things that I appreciate about your work, as I mentioned, is that this kind of all resulted from a practice perspective in a trauma informed toolkit. So let's talk about that a little bit because I know that's really geared towards a lot of student work, but it applies deeply to your faculty and staff populations as well. So how did you operationalize the findings of the study to try to create more community care.

Adam Jussel [00:14:23]: One of the cool parts about participating in this, and I this is the 1st article that I've ever been. For those who don't know, I have a JD. You do not have to produce Research as part of your JD. Some people do. So it's the 1st academic study I've been I've been a part of, which was really exciting. And one thing that I really, with My colleagues tried to focus on is we can't wait till this is published to produce and care for our campus community because as You know publishing takes a long time, so the trauma informed care toolkit and related workshops were created actually prior to us Publishing anything and actually diving into our research because the trauma informed care principles, at least as we saw it, were somewhat evergreen. There's things that we could do to make that a reality. And then once we published our research, we use that to inform our workshops and continue to hone those toolkits.

Adam Jussel [00:15:13]: So the real bellwether or the real, I would say, the workshops themselves were the 1st program we really rolled out, and those were geared towards Faculty and staff. They were trying to do 2 different things. They were first trying to say, here's our students' experience, and here's how you care for those students. And, also, what we realized midstream is, oh, this is cathartic for the faculty and staff that are coming into this face as well because they're feeling validated by their experience. They're feeling empowered, and they're feeling like they're connected to other people. This is this kind of shared social experience. And teams were totally volunteer. We just put them in, like, newsletters and said, hey, folks.

Adam Jussel [00:15:50]: If you're interested in this and in the year and a half that we launched, From when we launched there, when we concluded them, we did over a 150 of these across campus. And for someone that does mandatory training of folks Here on our campus, doing a 150 workshops is intense over a year and a half, but it also reflected the kind of scope and scale of the problem because I'm getting that level of interest in a voluntary program that's not being forced upon anybody. We had to chase that. There was something there. And the toolkits themselves were really about building capacity across campus understanding that I'm not an expert on the classroom dynamics in a faculty member's classroom, but I can give the the parameters Or how would you make your classroom trauma informed? And I hesitate to even say trauma informed because that's somewhat cliche at this point in time, and I think it's got some it might carry some baggage for folks. Oh, really, what it is is how do I create a classroom that's reciprocal and empowering and caring? So those toolkits are we're actually in another revision of them right now, but those toolkits in the workshop are based in Principles that even if we didn't have a pandemic would be good exercises and practices for folks in their workplace and that and the classroom.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:16:57]: Let's define trauma informed in this case. As you mentioned, it is kind of a buzzword in higher education at this point, and, some people operationalize it differently. How are you using the term?

Adam Jussel [00:17:08]: Definition of trauma that we use is adopted by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services association. And it's an event or series events that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life Threatening with lasting adverse effects on the individual's functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. And the reason we like this definition is that it's it's more holistic than other definitions offered. It it talks about the entirety of the person's experience, But it also distinguishes between physical trauma, so someone that is experiencing physical harm or witnessing physical harm versus The impacts of something that may be systemic and long term like the pandemic. So there's other definitions of trauma that really focus on An acute single incident like a type one trauma. This broader definition from SAMHSA is broader and would take into context things that just happen over time, little cuts that happen over time. So trauma informed care takes that into consideration and asks the question, what do we how do we frame our workplace and our classroom In a way that acknowledges that someone may be experiencing in that space a significant amount of trauma or stress.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:18:19]: And looking at all of this, You've gone through the research process. You've gone through the workshop process. You're now in revisions. What's the pro tip that you can provide. What's the nugget for SA pros who are listening and going, oh, my campus needs this, or especially The other SSAOs going, how do I adopt this and and make it meaningful for my campus?

Adam Jussel [00:18:40]: 1st, I would say the pro tip is Understand that you're seen and that this work is valuable in the sense that it lets folks know that, hey. These jobs are challenging. Anybody in the field that is aware of how they experience the pandemic and the work that they were doing, that this highlights that and actually paints a picture that allows for a certain level of advocacy on your campus. So I think Pointing to it and saying, hey. And I know there's a bunch of data now that reflects this, but this isn't just my feelings. This is actually an experience that is validated by by research. That's my I guess, more of an academic response. My gut response is any parts of this work can be applied to any campus.

Adam Jussel [00:19:20]: And one thing that we've really learned, the framework we've applied is this campus cares framework, which is a fancy term for a program here on campus that's Grassroots, it's voluntary, but it is holistic. So instead of thinking about how do we just care for the students, how How do we make sure they have adequate resources, that they have counseling, that they have food pantry, that they have case management, that they have an emergency grant? This takes into consideration the first thing I said at the beginning, which is we can't do those things well unless we are part of that ecosystem. System. And so this campus CARES work has students, faculty, and staff from across campus. It's not a top down directive, so it's not something that we got From senior leadership that would just kind of just groundswell during the pandemic. It's that heart I was telling you about. And so my nugget here is that find the people on your campus, Students, faculty, and staff that embody this type of work, this type of care, put them in a room together and say, what does it mean to care for our campus, How do we do that? And it might mean something different to y'all, but it would likely mean something different to y'all than it does to us. But we did that in the early stages of this campus Cares framework.

Adam Jussel [00:20:25]: We got a bunch of people in the room, and they said, what does it mean to be empathetic and caring in the face of a global pandemic? And all of the tools that we got out of it, the tool kits And the the workshops and the meditation spaces that we have on campus and the communications and storytelling are all grounded in that empathy, Empowerment and care, and I think that can be applied anywhere.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:20:46]: How has all of this effort changed your campus?

Adam Jussel [00:20:49]: I can speak, and, obviously, I'm biased here, but I think it has elevated the experience of folks that would be considered either frontline or mid level staff to campus leadership in the community. So not to say that anybody had negative opinions of the campus prior to The pandemic. But I don't think they were generally aware of the level of stress that folks were experiencing in the pandemic and had experienced prior to the For me, personally, it has connected me directly, and I think connected everybody within the Campus Cares group to the extent that I can speak for all of them with those people that genuinely care about UWM and its students. And when you put that type of energy into a space, I think it catalyzes a lot of change and good, but also just makes me feel personally like I enjoy going to parts of work that I'm doing that because it's a bunch of people that are on the same team, so to speak. So I think it's changed, and we are really focused now on how do we keep this momentum going? How do we now that we're in this late in stages of the pandemic, and how do we scale this culture of care across campus. So that's the tougher problem, and I don't actually think we ever accomplished that. I think that's a thing that we will continue to do forever, but we've had some great conversations about what that actually means while we're doing this other practical work.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:22:05]: The scaling question is always interesting when you're at such a large institution. Right? When you're at a small liberal arts university, the scaling question is as much simpler just because there are physically less people. But the common core of an institution, like in our one size, that's a very, very different beast.

Adam Jussel [00:22:22]: Yeah. One of the things that I value professionally is just kind of meeting the hard challenges of doing it with kind of an open mind and curiosity, and This has definitely opened my aperture quite a bit on how we can do that and how big the issues are, and that is not just a checkbox. You can't just flip a giant switch somewhere and say, okay. Now we're good. So this will be something that will continue on, I think, hopefully, for a good long while here at UWM and at other places.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:22:46]: I'm gonna shift gears with you just a moment because we are in our bonus episode in between seasons 9 and 10, both of which are on the theme of transitions. So So I just briefly wanna touch on how does someone go from obtaining a law degree to being in student affairs full time?

Adam Jussel [00:23:01]: It's a common question that I get. And the real answer is is that I cut my teeth in university housing. I was an RA for 3 years in college. And when I was leaving college and I decided to go to law school. I actually picked my law school, Seattle University, in part because I was fortunate To have the opportunity to work in housing, university housing while I was in law school, which on its face for anybody that's gone to law school, it's how do you go to law school and work in a residence all at the same time. I actually think it helped me quite a bit because, one, it created so much more structure around my life. And 2, it was people outside of the law school that I connected with, and I'm still colleagues and friends with. They really didn't care what I was doing in the law school.

Adam Jussel [00:23:43]: They cared about me as a human, and So remove kind of that that stressor. They were great friends and kind of a mitigator distress. And when I left law school, I had this existential crisis of, I'm still liking this housing stuff. I'm still learning a lot, and I went and took the bar, and I thought, well, I guess I go practice law now. Right? I I worked at a firm for a while, and then I actually made the transition to the attorney general's office, which was represented all the institutions of higher education in the state of Washington and was an assistant attorney general actually representing Washington State University. I did that for a couple years, and I was still having that kind of, I wanna be on the other side. I Wanna be in the administration. The kind of natural inroad for a lot of people at that point in time with a JD was into the conduct space.

Adam Jussel [00:24:26]: So I made the big move over the administration and did student conduct for what feels like an eternity, but it was 7, 8 years over at WSU and then since made this transition over here, and and I couldn't be more. I tell this to people all the time, and maybe it's my experience my previous experience is that while these jobs are stressful and They're very challenging, and I'm faced with challenges every day. The fact that I get to work on a college campus still is like I, like, pinch myself. Just the fact that I could walk onto our mall in the middle of a busy weekday and just be amongst 18, 19, 20 year olds and UWM students. It's just a it's a blessing. So that's how I made that transition. It's a long story, but I'm fortunate to have all those opportunities and people nudging me to do that along the way.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:25:08]: Thank you for sharing that. I really appreciate the complexity of that, but also the simplicity of I was an RA first. That seems to be such, you know, a common student affairs journey.

Adam Jussel [00:25:17]: I like to tell folks, I think once you do the ResLifer thing, you're a ResLifer at heart for a long time, and I don't think I've ever turned away from that. So that's my origin story as it were.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:25:27]: Is there anything else that you wanna share with our listeners?

Adam Jussel [00:25:30]: I know I mentioned earlier the the the concept of meaning of work and and potentially how That could be a mitigator to, stress and and perhaps trauma. And really wanna note that our focus groups that we did in the spring, we did 4 of them. They were meant to expand on the initial survey instrument I noted earlier, building on that quantitative research And now using qualitative research in a mixed method study and sequentially and hopefully explanatory, we wanted to determine what factors and processes Would promote increased meaning of work, noting that the positive effects we saw through that could have helped with stress. There's a bevy of research out there about the positive impacts of having a a vision or a larger mission, but also want to explore how could that potentially decrease stress or at least be a protective factor. What we've just anecdotally, what we've seen so far is that the the work is hard and people really identify with that, and I've explained the statistics that are relating to that. But when it's Directly connected to a larger purpose or mission or community, it could be more motivating and, in fact, meaningful. And What we've also found is that the focus on the well-being of others, which is a core element of the campus cares initiative I mentioned, that can bring satisfaction in and out of work. And maybe This isn't particularly novel, but can actually reduce stress for folks as having that broader connection and that broader sense of purpose.

Adam Jussel [00:26:55]: So I think that we'd be remiss without sharing that there is additional research being done there and and hopefully continue to imbue that work Within the campus cares initiative that we have on campus.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:27:06]: It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to producer Chris to learn what's going on in the NASPA world.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:27:12]: Thanks, Jill. Really excited to be back again in the NASPA world, and there's a lot happening in NASPA. The NASPA annual conference is coming up March 9th through 13th in Seattle, Washington, and I hope that you will be able to join us. If you are going to join us, I know that we've mentioned this before, but we'll be going around asking questions, looking for your answers to have your voice be a part of a future episode. So watch out for me with my recorder or Jill with her recorder, and we'll be looking to capture your voice. At the NASPA annual conference, the opening and closing keynote speakers have just been announced recently. Dr. Sian Proctor and Alejandra Campa Verdi will be joining as opening and keynote speakers. The opening keynote is Dr. Sion Proctor Who is a geoscientist, explorer, space artist, and astronaut.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:28:08]: Dr. Sian Proctor is a geoscience professor at the Maricopa Community Colleges, An Afrofuturism artist and an astronaut. She is the chief inspiration astronaut of Space to Inspire and founder of the Procter Foundation For Art and Science. She was the mission pilot for SpaceX inspiration for the first all civilian Orbital mission. And our closing keynote speaker is Alejandra Campaverde. Alejandra Campaverde is a nationally recognized women's Health advocate, best selling author, founder, producer, and former White House aid to president Obama. Alejandra's memoir, First Gen, Examines the emotional toll of social mobility on first and only for those who are first generation in their families to cross a threshold. On February 2, 2024, on Zoom will be the 7th annual 1st generation graduate student symposium. Join the Boston University Newberry Center, Duke University first generation graduate student network, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina grad students grad student firsts, along with our cooperating sponsor, the Center For First Generation Student Success, For our 7th annual symposium for graduate and professional students on February 2, 2024.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:29:28]: This national symposium is open to any student who identifies as a 1st generation graduate or professional student and is studying any discipline. The keynote speaker for this event is Angela Bautista, A proud 1st generation student learner, educator, speaker, facilitator, coach, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging consultant. There's There's also gonna be a number of opportunities for you to network with other 1st generation graduate and professional students at institutions across the country, workshop sessions, and more. The event is on February 2nd and runs from from 1 EST to 5 PM EST. From June 23rd to 26 in Portland, Oregon Will be the 2024 NASPA m Ben Hogan Small Colleges and Universities Institute. This event is hosted on a biannual basis by By NASPA's Small Colleges and Universities division, the NASPA M. Ben Hogan Small Colleges and University Institute is a 4 day residential program During which vice presidents for student affairs and the equivalent and other senior level administrators engage in discussion and reflection about critical issues in student affairs and examine effective and innovative programs. Participation in this institute is limited to the highest Ranking student affairs officer on campus and other senior level administrators who report to the highest ranking student affairs officer and have substantial responsibility for divisional leadership.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:30:52]: The registration fee for this program includes housing and most meals and is an amazing experience To bring you together with other small colleges and university leaders. Find out more on the NASPA website. I mentioned the NASPA NASPA annual conference coming up In March, if you are unable to join the NASPA conference, we also have another great opportunity, which is the 2024 virtual conference, which will happen on April 2nd through 5, 2024. The 2024 NASPA virtual Conference is a 4 day interactive educational experience for student affairs professionals and partners where we will engage in high quality content centered around individual and team growth. There will be multiple educational sessions, including 8 extended learning workshops. Teams can participate in their personal and professional development through the live event and on demand. The best part of this is that if you register, All sessions will be available on demand for 365 days. So it's a great opportunity for your teams at your institutions to be able to access professional development over a long period.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:32:04]: If you haven't checked this out yet, I highly encourage you to go to the NASPA website to check it out, Learn more and find out how you can be involved with your team at your own institution. Every week, we're going to be sharing some amazing things that are happening within in the association. So we are going to be able to try and keep you up to date on everything that's happening And allow for you to be able to get involved in different ways because the association is as strong as its members. And For all of us, we have to find our place within the association, whether it be getting involved with the knowledge community, giving back within one of the the centers We're at the divisions of the association. And as you're doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself Where do you fit? Where do you wanna give back? Each week, we're hoping that we will share some things that might encourage you, might allow for you To be able to get some ideas that will provide you with an opportunity to be able to say, hey. I see myself In that knowledge community, I see myself doing something like that or encourage you in other ways that allow for you to be able to Think beyond what's available right now to offer other things to the association, to bring your gifts, Your talents to the association and to all of the members within the association because through doing that, all of us are stronger and the association is better. Tune in again next week as we find out more about what is happening in NASPA.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:40]: Chris, thank you so much for this bonus NASPA world segment. We've got a lot coming up. I know annual conference is just around the corner at this point in time. We hope to see a lot of you in Seattle. Adam, we are now at our lightning round. I have 7 questions for you in 90 seconds. You ready to go?

Adam Jussel [00:33:57]: Okay. Hippie, let's do it.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:59]: Question number 1. If you were a conference keynote speaker, what would your entrance music be?

Adam Jussel [00:34:03]: Jitterbug.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:04]: Number 2, when you were 5 years old, what did you wanna be when you grew up?

Adam Jussel [00:34:07]: A pilot.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:08]: Number 3, who's your most influential professional mentor?

Adam Jussel [00:34:12]: Ken Wayne. He He was a professor at Seattle University.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:14]: Number 4, your essential student affairs read.

Adam Jussel [00:34:17]: Reframing campus conflict.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:19]: Number 5, the best TV show you binged during the pandemic.

Adam Jussel [00:34:22]: We rewatched parks and rec the entirety of it.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:25]: Number 6, the podcast you've spent the most hours listening to in the last year.

Adam Jussel [00:34:29]: On chair expert.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:30]: And finally, number 7, any shout outs you'd like to give, personal or professional?

Adam Jussel [00:34:34]: Thanks, Jill, for the great question and for the opportunity to offer some shout outs. Obviously, I'm super grateful for all the people that have supported and influenced me along the way and try to share that gratitude when I can. Starting just With my time at Cal Lutheran and my 1st supervisors in residence life, Sally Lawrenson and Nate Fall, and then Danielle Hess And Adam Malcolm at the AG's office at WSU just taking a chance on me and allowing for that big transition that I noted earlier. And then, of course, my team at at UWM, including Becky Career, Abby Meadow, Ben Minogue, and Sarah Edmonson, even though Sarah has left us for another institution. Just super grateful for team here could not do it without them. And then, obviously, my professional career started at WSU, and I would be remiss without giving a shout out to them, including Karen Fisher, Melinda Husky, Karen Metzner, and Christina McGillfry, and just the entire Dida students team over there. I know they're doing great work. And then finally, just 2 mentors, Bill Stackman and Carrie Petter who answer all my weird questions every once in a while about my own growth in the career, and It's super helpful and just, again, very grateful for all these folks.

Adam Jussel [00:35:45]: So shout outs to everybody.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:35:46]: Well, Adam, it's been a pleasure to reconnect with you today. If others would like to connect with you after the show. How can they find you?

Adam Jussel [00:35:52]: You can email me, which is just [e-mail], or my Instagram account is at Dean Dob Jessel.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:35:59]: Adam, thank you so much for sharing your voice with us today.

Adam Jussel [00:36:02]: Thank you, Jill. Take care, everybody.

Dr. Jill Creighton [00:36:05]: This has been an episode of SA voices from the field brought to you by NASPA. This show is always made possible because of you, our listeners. We are so grateful that you continue to listen to us season after season. If you'd like to reach the show, you can always email us at essay voices at naspa.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for Dr. Jill Creighton. We welcome your feedback and topic and especially your guest suggestions. We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the show, and Please like, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening now. It really does help other student affairs professionals find the show and and helps us become more visible in the larger podcasting community. This episode was produced and hosted by Dr. Jill l Creighton., That's me. Produced and audio engineered by Dr. Chris Lewis. Guest coordination by Lu Yongru. Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for your support as we create this project. Catch you next time.