Using a Trauma Informed Approach to Encourage Academic Help-Seeking Among Ethnically Diverse Students

Abstract

The curvilinear relationship between academichelp-seeking and the need for assistance is wellreported (Fong et al., 2021; Karabenick & Knapp,1991). Within the help-seeking literature, the complexityof help-seeking for ethnically diverse students has beenexplained by a few studies that cite cultural differences in self-regulation in general (Fong et al., 2017).However, using a trauma-informed lens to inform thefield’s understanding of how to encourage academichelp-seeking among ethnically diverse students hasbeen largely unexplored in higher education. Byunderstanding the common factors that influence helpseeking and employing a trauma-informed approachto designing academic support services, institutionscan be better positioned to encourage adaptive helpseeking behaviors that promote student success.