Not every crisis is immediately apparent, notes Kelly Boutin, Bryant’s director of student case management. Sometimes a student having trouble might be a leader on campus or an excellent student or be seen as wildly popular. Sometimes the student themself might not even realize how badly they need help.
“It is a completely human experience to struggle,” says Boutin. “This is an incredibly challenging time to be a human, and everyone needs to support one another. We need community more than ever.”
Bryant University’s Campus Assessment, Response and Evaluation (CARE) Team, which Boutin heads, responds to non-emergency situations involving at-risk students and works to connect them to essential support services on and/or off campus.
“This is an incredibly powerful force of good on our campus,” says Boutin.
Students’ lives are complicated, notes Boutin. “CARE referrals run the gamut, including mental health concerns, medical concerns, family illness or death, financial issues, personal violence, food security, housing, and relationships,” she relates. “It can be anything.”
To that end, the full CARE Team includes representatives from nearly every campus department, including Academic Advising, Athletics, Residential Life, Public Safety, Health Services, Accessibility Services, Counseling Services and others.
“Bryant’s community is so close-knit, one of the really beautiful things is that a student has multiple checkpoints.”
“Bryant's care team is bigger than what most other schools have, even larger schools, and it covers a much wider range of areas,” Boutin notes. “It’s humbling, I think, to see so many people show up in support of Bryant’s students.”
In addition to bringing to bear a wide range of expertise, the CARE Team mirrors the natural connections that define the university. “Bryant’s community is so close-knit, one of the really beautiful things is that a student has multiple checkpoints,” says Boutin, the former director of Bryant’s Pride Center and Hochberg Women’s Center. “They’re very involved and engaged throughout campus. People know them and experience them in different ways.”
The CARE Team works together to determine the appropriate approach — and appropriate contact points for the student in need. “I often say that I'm the hub of a wheel,” says Boutin. “I can do a lot of things myself, but I often am not the expert in a particular subject, or I might not be the person who might have a natural relationship with the student. So, when that happens, we’ll involve different spokes of the wheel.”
Referrals come to CARE in many ways. Many are submitted through the team’s website; others come through “Navigate reports,” early warning notices from Academic Affairs. “Sometimes what seems to be a slight slip in academic performance or increased absences can be the tip of the iceberg,” Boutin notes. “Or what presents as one thing could be something else entirely.”
The team meets once a week — the executive committee has an additional weekly meeting, as well — to work through cases, but Boutin also makes CARE referrals as they come in. “We act in real time as much as possible, which helps us catch warning signs faster and get students help faster too,” says Boutin.
“There's nothing like seeing a student who was once in crisis dance in our i2i international culture show or present their Honors Thesis or walk the stage at graduation.”
That sense of urgency extends throughout the team — and the university, Boutin suggests. “Our Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students has stepped out of Board of Trustee meetings when she received a text about a student referred to CARE,” she notes.
A CARE referral can lead to a variety of actions: a check-in visit from a community director, for instance, or an academic advisor might reach out with an email. Sometimes it just means keeping an eye on the student. In rare cases, involving safety issues, the Department of Public Safety might get involved.
Whenever possible, the student’s anonymity is preserved, but it’s also important for students to understand that they are supported through the difficult parts of their journeys. “We are trying to normalize having a hard time, and to normalize needing community,” Boutin notes.
Sometimes just knowing there’s someone looking out for them makes a key difference. “Your job is to walk people through these moments,” notes Boutin. Sometimes that’s literal. “I’ve physically walked with students over to counseling services when they’re feeling nervous,” Boutin says.
The end of the journey, though, is worth the struggle. “There's nothing like seeing a student who was once in crisis dance in our i2i international culture show or present their honors thesis or walk the stage at graduation,” Boutin says.
It’s worth it for the CARE Team as well. “It can be really heavy work, and there are times when your heart breaks for our students when you learn what they’re going through,” admits Boutin. “But seeing them work through it and overcome those issues, and seeing how many people are on their side, gives you so much energy and fills you with so much hope.”
