Conferencing as Self-Care: 2016 NASPA Strategies Conferences

The work environment in which many Student Affairs professionals now exist looks and feels very different than it did a mere five years ago. There is an ever-increasing attention on campuses by student activists, legislators, alumni and others about how they are responding to sexual violence issues. Additionally, federal guidance, pending state and federal legislation and a list of voluntary resolutions agreements that are recommended as blueprints for campuses leave many of us feeling as though we work under constant pressure to “get it right” within a context that is constantly changing.

Many times, I hear from my colleagues that conversations on our campuses  go down the compliance or litigation-avoidance road, and we find ourselves wondering how we got to this place and how can we keep student experiences at the center of our work.

It is for these reasons and so many others that I value the NASPA Strategies Conference: Violence Prevention. I attend few professional conferences where campus sexual violence prevention and response topics are worthy of more than a single session or two. NASPA Strategies is where I meet with colleagues doing this work across the institutional spectrum, and where I get some of my best ideas for the coming year.

At last year’s conference, I attended a session on self-care for advocates that quite frankly changed my worldview. As someone who works with students in crisis every day and who has more than 1,500 hours in crisis training, I can tell you that praise doesn’t come lightly.

Not only did I learn the difference between what we call self-care and what we do that brings meaning to our life, I made a lasting connection with others doing this work to whom I can turn when I need a refresher.

This conference, for me, also serves as an invaluable bridge between the various professionals that serve as touch points on campus for these issues. I had the chance to reconnect with prevention professionals and advocates that I’ve been working alongside for years. But importantly, I also had the opportunity to make new connections with conduct professionals, senior administrators and counselors who shared their struggles with addressing these issues at their institutions. I participated in some crucial conversations about how we can all work better together moving forward.

I am excited that this year’s conference provides even more opportunities to make meaningful connections with one another than ever before.  Attendees have the chance to meet with content experts as part of consultant corners this year. And conference planners have ensured that there are even more opportunities for networking built into the conference agenda. I am already trying to find ways to make sure I can fit everything in when I attend this year!

I encourage all of my colleagues who work on these difficult issues to join me at this year’s NASPA Strategies conference. I hope that this conference will become for you what it has become for me: a chance to refresh, learn from and connect with others and renew my commitment to this work. I look forward to seeing you there!

At the time this article was written, Jill Dunlap was the Director, Campus Advocacy Resources and Education, University of California, Santa Barbara. She is now the Director for Equity, Inclusion, and Violence Prevention at NASPA.

The last day to register at the regular rate to attend the 2016 NASPA Strategies Conferences: Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention, Mental Health, and Violence Prevention is December 10th! The Strategies Conferences, held in Orlando, FL Jan. 21-23, give student affairs practitioners the tools to address substance abuse, mental health, and violence on campus.