"Where is the support?": Black men student affairs professionals experiences with secondary trauma.

Abstract

Student affairs professionals respond to college students in crisis on their respective campuses on a daily basis. After time, this work may begin to affect the professionals negatively and it may lead to the development of secondary trauma (Lynch, 2017). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of fourteen Black men who serve or have served in student affairs positions that require them to respond to students in crisis. The findings indicated that Black men student affairs professionals experienced varying amounts of negative effects on their physical and mental wellbeing; that they lacked emergency response training and supervisory guidance in addition to the negative effects on their mental health. Recommendations for Black men student affairs professionals, supervisors of Black men student affairs professionals, and the student affairs profession are given.