Findings

Emphatic Leaders

Selina and Michelle both indicated that their traumatic experiences helped them to be more empathic leaders.

“It made me more empathetic. It made me try to understand people better. I don’t get as upset as I used to when I didn’t see eye-to-eye with people because I realized I had no idea what that person could be going through. I think that helps me in my leadership roles because I try to see things from all angles, instead of just my own perspective.”

Low Self-Esteem and Finding Confidence

Amy, Ian, and Sam shared similar experiences, entering college with low self-esteem and residual negative emotions from mistreatment sustained by peers and/or relatives in high school. Their shared background in finding a community and becoming involved in their leadership activities were healing for them and reduced the negative emotions they had brought with them to college. In their cases, they arrived at college feeling isolated and in need of a community in which to feel connected and supported -- a need which was met when they joined the groups that they now lead or have led.

Leadership as healing

Like healing is treated like a hindrance to success. I think most of the time [...] we think of a traumatic experience or I would say that the dominant narrative, the hegemonic narrative [...] is like if the trauma happened and it is at a detriment... I mean that's true. I'm not trying to like glorify trauma but like I guess my thinking is like when you... it's something to be healed and avoided as opposed to something to be learned from. I think it's a typical trope or [...] something to acknowledge as to as something to overcome [or] something that like happened and then like you're like I can move past it as opposed to something that informs the way they kind of negotiate the work that you do, which is how I think of trauma and why I think that leadership needs to have a variety of different approaches”

“...I think more than anything trauma makes you think. It is like... it is the extra step in everything that you do, as kind of like either a protective factor or... it’s just a consideration right? There's always consideration. And like healing in, I think, the typical narratives of healing have that consideration minimized or like move forward from or like... And I think that extra moment of consideration [...] have been critical for for building certain relationships or for looking at new opportunities.”

“Through all that tumultuous water I came to the conclusion that it wasn't my fault and I couldn't change what happened to me, but I could change what I did about it. I became much more progressive and almost more dominant, in a way. I want to assure it was never going to happen again--to me, or to anyone else. I tried to become more positive. It's a hard process but I am thankful for the struggle because the person I am now knows that I can get through anything. "

The participants of this study demonstrated both marginality and mattering. Amy and Ian both talked about experiencing marginality in their shared experience with mental illnesses. Amy took on her marginalization to find affinity by talking bluntly about her anxiety. Similarly, Ian learned to embrace the “weirdness” and no longer hide that part of himself. Both reported that this allowed them to find others with similar mental health experiences and by forming those groups helped them in mattering. Selina further demonstrates “ego extension” (Schlossberg 1989) when Selina stated, “ I liked it when people listened to me, made me feel like my input was important again. I hope some people find me inspirational. That makes me feel better about my situation, knowing I could help other people. It makes it worth it, in a sense.” As a result of our interviews, we found mattering is imperative to the success of survivors of traumatic experiences and in creating survivor-leaders. Peer trainings, encouraging survivors to help , and adopting survivor-leadership models promote mattering and challenges student affairs administrators and advisers to think of survivors of trauma as an asset to the campus.

Peer CouNseling and Harm Reduction

Peer counseling and harm reduction training has shown success in treatment for trauma survivors (Fearday & Cape, 2004; Hotaling et al, 2004). Peer counseling reduces problems related to wariness and distrust by those seeking support. Mistrust is often the heightened responses of survivors, whose trauma survival is predicated on overcoming mistrust. Peers serve as role models, which provides constant affirmation that a survivor’s life and safety is worth the effort. On campuses, this may look like partnering with Active Minds to create Peer Mental Health Educators (PMHE). The PMHE’s role is to develop events and programs that help destigmatize seeking help for and the prevention of mental health crisis (Dauber, 2017).

REspect Survivors as Leaders

"I liked it when people listened to me, made me feel like my input was important again. I hope some people find me inspirational. That makes me feel better about my situation, knowing I could help other people. It makes it worth it, in a sense."

Administrators and advisors should respect potential leaders who are survivors as skilled leaders, not just disadvantaged victims. Hotaling et al (2004, p. 259) suggests that shifting the helping paradigm -- so that those who usually receive help become producers of help -- creates relationships that are more symmetrical and reciprocal, reducing the necessity of asking for help. Ian indicated in his interview that the opportunity for him to become involved in hall council and feel supported in doing so helped him to explore additional leadership opportunities and become an advocate. Jay, a veteran, became involved in veterans’ organizations and spaces, which also helped other involved veterans to identify a potential “symmetric” relationship in him rather than a “non-survivor” -- in this case, civilian -- “counselor.”

Create Leadership Opportunities

astly, student affairs administrators can design innovative strategies that are based on O’Hagan’s (2010) model for user/survivor leadership. High impact practices like service learning programs and learning communities (Kuh, 2008) can provide a venue for survivors of traumatic experiences to be a leader without explicitly searching for those traumatic experiences. For example, Ian participated in all gender housing because he could be with those who have experienced marginalization but ultimately, after graduation, realizes how the move to be a leader within all gender housing is connected with his healing trauma journey.

“I have engaged in a few leadership roles. I’m on my third year of being a resident assistant, I’m Student Council President. Also I’m a front-end supervisor at a grocery store.”