• Be aware of your own level of comfort talking about sensitive matters.  If it is bothersome to you or just not your style, help the student to talk with someone else.  You may need to refer him/her immediately to Counseling and Disability Services.
• Be aware of your personal and professional limitations.
• Present yourself as approachable to students, but stay mindful of your professional boundaries.  Sometimes in an effort to be helpful, we may step too far beyond our role. 
• Be mindful of any prejudices you may have.
• Listen with an open and accepting stance without judgment of the student.
• Validate the individual’s feelings.
• Accept the significance of a specific event or stressor.  Its importance to the individual is what’s critical.
• Avoid negative attitudes such a labeling behavior as “lazy”.
• As noted earlier, if a student is comfortable, ask questions in a sensitive manner to gather more information.  If the issues appear to be more complicated than you would prefer to address, it’s time to encourage the student to take action. 
• It is okay to ask a student if he/she has had recent thoughts of death or suicide.  Contrary to popular belief, inquiry about suicidal thoughts does not encourage someone to consider it.  Having a responsible adult directly ask about suicide, may be the opening someone needs to disclose his/her level of distress.

E. Additional Resources:

Here are some additional useful resources from other institutions:

http://www.smu.edu/healthcenter/counseling/ct_parents-trauma.asp

http://www.counseling.txstate.edu/

http://helping.apa.org/articles/article.php?id=151