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Spartan Transfer Hub is a podcast for transfer students at Michigan State University, and beyond, brought to you by the Transfer Student Success Center (TSSC).
Each episode features conversations with MSU staff, faculty, and fellow students, highlighting key resources, programs, tips and individual stories to help you navigate your transfer journey. From academic support to campus involvement, Spartan Transfer Hub connects you to the tools and people that make a difference.
Find us on Impact89fm.org, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more!
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/msutransfersuccess
Website: https://spartantransferhub.transistor.fm
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You're listening to the Spartan Transfer Hub brought to you by MSU Transfer Student Success Center and Impact 89 FM.
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Here's what we've got for you today.
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Welcome back to season three of the Spartan Transfer Hub podcast, brought to you by Impact 89 FM and the MSU Transfer Student Success Center.
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I'm your host, Sydney Chaube, a senior studying journalism and communication.
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And this podcast is here to help transfer students feel supported and confident as they navigate life here at Michigan State.
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Today, we're talking about an important campus resource, the CARE and Intervention Team within the Office of Student Support and Accountability.
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If you've ever been worried about a friend or weren't sure where to turn for help, this episode is for you.
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Today, I'm joined by some special guests from the team.
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To start, can you all introduce yourselves and share your role within this team?
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Hi, Sadie.
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So my name is Jess Scott-Niles.
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I use she/her pronouns.
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I'm one of the case managers with the CARE team.
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Hello, I'm Char.
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I also use she/her pronouns and I'm a case manager with the CARE team.
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Kayla Lewis here.
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Also, she/her pronouns.
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I am one of the Masters of Social Work interns here.
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Hi, my name is Katie.
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I am also one of the Masters of Social Work interns with the CARE and Intervention Team.
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Awesome.
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Let's start with a fun icebreaker.
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In one word, what do you hope students feel after interacting with the CARE and Intervention Team?
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Supported.
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Heard.
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Encouraged.
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Safe.
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Awesome.
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I think that gives us a perfect segue into the questions.
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Can you please tell me what is the Care and Intervention Team and what its role is?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So the Care and Intervention Team is a program team that's housed under the Office of Student Support and Accountability.
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Most times we kind of get this rep as the principal's office or folks just think that we're here
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through conduct or discipline, but it is also a team that is here to support and kind of promote individuals on campus overall well-being and also keep the community safe.
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And so we have a multidisciplinary team that consists of many different departments and expertise.
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So we have like student affairs, officials, social workers, clinical and non-clinical caps, law enforcement,
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undergrad ed, grad ed, the list goes on and on with the different departments that sit on the team as well.
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And we kind of like work together and collaborate to support our students as well as our employees as well.
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So that's something folks don't know about us that we are housed under.
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offices to support and accountability, but we also assist with employees.
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And so we do that through referrals, outreach, and many different interventions on campus and off campus.
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And yeah.
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Awesome.
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When should someone make a referral?
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What are some common situations where a referral to the care and intervention team might be appropriate?
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So we would say if you notice a friend who is struggling, what we tend to say is, you can have a bad day, and it's okay to have a bad day.
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But when we notice that our friends or our peers are having a bad week, when they appear to be in distress, when they're perhaps withdrawing from classes, maybe they're not leaving a room, maybe they're not engaging in ways that they used to.
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So if you notice that sort of behavioral change, that could be something to make a referral for.
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If you have a friend who is shared, they are struggling just with their health, whether it's physical health, mental health, and aren't quite sure where to go, that could be a good referral point because we can really be a resource for them to help navigate where to go.
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When students notice that they themselves might need some help, we do also have a self-referral option.
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So students can submit that for themselves and get connected directly to one of us.
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So how does that process work?
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Where do students go and what information should they include in those referrals?
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Yeah, so we do have an online referral form.
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And so we do have it linked on our website.
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And what students will be able to do is they will be able to click on that referral form.
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They will identify who it is that they're concerned about.
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And then they can indicate what they've noticed.
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So we would like folks to be as detailed as they can.
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So if they've noticed like a psychological behavioral change, that they've noticed, they would draw academic changes, that they've noticed behavioral changes.
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Those are all things that they can write in there.
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If they have any quotes, if they have any documentation,
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Maybe it's a screenshot of a conversation they had.
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They could share that.
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So the more information, the better, just to help us understand the context of what is happening and just to be able to best serve the student and go into a meeting with the student with as much information as possible.
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So with that, when they're completing the form, they'll have the ability to upload anything if they would like to.
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And then they can share their name,
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contact information, and then they can indicate what they're hoping to get out of the referral.
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So if they just want to let us know and have it be on our radar for awareness, they could indicate that.
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If they would like to have us reach out to the person, then they can note that as well.
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And then finally, if they've taken any steps, we do encourage them to outline that.
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So if they've talked with their friend, or let's say if they have like referred to a professor, they could make those notations.
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I have a question about the emergency and the non-emergency situation.
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Why is it important to make that distinction when it comes to cases like this?
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For sure.
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Something super important about the work that we do is we are not an emergency resource.
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There are emergency resources on campus.
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If you do feel that you are an emergency, you can always call 911.
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But in our office, we review cases from 8 A.m.
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to 5 P.m.
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during business hours in the weekday.
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So if
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you are referred to us, you will hear from us during those hours only.
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What happens after you submit a referral?
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What is that process like?
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What does outreach from a case manager, for example, like yourselves, look like?
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Yeah, so we first begin with intake, which is just an initial assessment for us to really gain a better understanding of the report.
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and what the student needs.
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And it outlines a little bit more detail about what's happening in the student's situation and how we can best support them.
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And we usually do case assignment every day amongst our team, which is where we just assign cases to a specific case manager or one of our interns.
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Then from there, we usually follow up with the refer reporter, which is just the person who completed the referral for the student to let them know that we have received the referral and that we will be in contact with said student.
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And then from there, we follow up with the individual and
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connect them with various campus resources based on their situation.
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And we do assess based on severity of the cases.
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For example, higher acuity cases call for more immediate responses from us.
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So we reach out to students via e-mail.
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via phone call, things like that.
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And then we just work to get them connected within those various resources on campus.
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So you mentioned resources.
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What kind of resources or support might a case manager connect a student to?
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Yeah, so good question.
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So I think we have connected to students to many different type of resources on campus and off campus.
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It can be referral to CABS,
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connection to transportation needs, connections to basic food needs or financial needs.
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I think one of our major ones that we see is the academic support, connecting students to the right folks to talk to in that college, whether it's advisors or departments, especially if there's like a mental health concern going on, academic support,
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does have limitations.
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I think this is important to know that we do not offer excused absences from our office.
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Many folks think that is something that we have the power to do.
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And we are also not a decision-making body.
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And so we cannot overrule what colleges or professors or academic instities have stated in that way.
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But I think that
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We are still learning about all the resources on campus and the things off campus and like our students have so many different unique needs that we get surprised.
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I think one of the resources more recently that I've referred a student to
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was a nutrition and dietitian resource.
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And that was a new one for me, like, okay, this is something that our students have access to.
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So I think overall, with the resources, they may look different, but I think case managers, we are the connection point.
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So if students are unsure,
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in navigating this huge campus and university, this will be a good place to start.
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And we can kind of help walk through the concerns and the needs and kind of help narrow down the resources that may be the best fit for you.
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Awesome.
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So this question just goes out to all of you.
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What would you say to a student who is unsure whether their concern is big enough to report?
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So I would say go ahead and report.
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So it really doesn't hurt simply because
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if nothing else, even if we don't, like if you want to submit a report for awareness only, we can just kind of keep track.
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And then we can notice maybe if things have changed, if you, if your friend continues to exhibit some of those concerns, or perhaps they're not, they're continuing to not do well, you could submit a follow up referral.
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So we would always encourage submitting those referrals.
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And if nothing else, that can lead to a conversation with the person who's submitting the referral to just talk through resources and how to
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help support their friend.
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So.
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Yeah, I would agree.
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And I'll add on to that.
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We want our place to be looked at as like a collaborative approach and a referral base.
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So not in thinking of like, I'm reporting my friend or my student or that they're going to get in trouble.
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We want it to look like I'm trying to support this person.
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So whether that's big or small,
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let us assess the situation and how we can support them.
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And we don't want that onus on that person of trying to figure out, well, is this even big enough for them to look at?
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Like, we want to work with you.
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And like, if something feels off or something feels a bit concerning or just odd or unusual or out of the norm, let us know and we can work with you in that way to support you or your friends.
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I don't know if we've talked about self-referrals.
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Yeah, just that it's a thing.
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It is a thing.
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Yeah.
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But to kind of bounce off of that, like you had said, supporting that reporting party.
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And just even if you feel like maybe it's that big enough to bring to a referral, give us a call.
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We can always chat on the phone.
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We can kind of talk through what you're going through and we can say, yeah, why don't you go ahead and submit a referral?
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And then the other thing too, we just encourage is
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when you make the referral, if you feel comfortable letting your friend know that you did that.
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And that way that can just help bridge the connection when we do end up reaching out to the student.
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And to add onto that too, we can be a proactive resource.
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So if you feel that this is, that there's a concern that's kind of been building, we would rather you reach out to us sooner rather than later, because there are things that we can do to intervene before someone reaches a crisis point.
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Absolutely.
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I think it's extremely important for you to report than not to report, no matter how big or small you think the situation may be.
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As my colleagues have stated, we are always here to support, no matter how big or small you may think the case is.
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Just I encourage everyone to reach out.
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Is there anything that any of you would like to add that I haven't asked already?
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I would say,
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been thinking about our transfer students specifically, sometimes that population and that group can get lost in the sauce.
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So there's a lot of focus on our first year students and supporting our on campus students.
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And we want our transfer students to know that like, we're here to support you, to reach out.
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Your needs may look different than your
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classmates or your peers.
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And so like there are resources available for you on campus.
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There are people to help navigate different situations that you may experience.
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And you don't have to feel alone in navigating some of those barriers and challenges.
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While a lot of focus is on our first years there, we still hold care and acknowledge and want to bring awareness to that special and unique population as well.
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And we're here throughout your time at MSU, so that's something as well is, even if you transferred in a few years ago, we're still here.
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Even if you go from undergrad to grad school, you're still here.
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So definitely lean into us as needed.
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We do have a fun member of our care team who is a comfort canine, whose name is Chase.
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And so for anyone listening who enjoys pets and likes dogs, he also is a reason that sometimes students come into the office just to be able to connect with Chase.
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That was amazing.
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Thank you so much for being here and sharing this information.
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And to our transfer Spartans listening, asking for help or checking in on a friend is never odd.
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It's just community care.
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If you are concerned about someone, you can submit a care and intervention referral through the Office of Student Support and Accountability website under care and intervention.
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Referrals are reviewed Monday through Friday from 8 A.m.
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to 5 P.m.
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If it is an emergency, please call 911.
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You can find more episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the Impact 89FM website.
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Until next time, keep showing up, keep supporting one another, and keep making MSU your home.
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Go green.
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Go white.
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Thanks for tuning in to the Spartan Transfer Hub brought to you by Impact 89FM and the Transfer Student Success Center.
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See you next time.