By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication. Photo: Colourbox

A student dies by suicide. A teacher suffers cardiac arrest during a lecture. A student is violently assaulted in front of their fellow students. Sometimes it happens that one or more students at Aalborg University (AAU) experience an acute critical incident that requires quick action and professional help. And when that happens, it places a great responsibility on the individual staff member or department to whom the student in crisis turns. The university has therefore made an agreement with Dansk Krisekorps for psychological crisis assistance to help AAU students affected by a crisis.

- A serious incident or accident can leave deep marks on the victim, fellow students and staff involved in the case. We know that it is incredibly important to properly respond to serious incidents. But it can be difficult for the individual staff member to do so if there are no clear procedures and a professional response team supporting them, says Pro-rector Anne-Marie Kanstrup.

Need for common procedures

She heads AAU's Strategic Council for Education that, in conjunction with AAU Student Guidance, has taken the initiative to establish psychological crisis assistance for students at AAU. They reviewed the existing procedures and experience in the field and concluded that there is a need to make an agreement with a response team.

- I am very pleased that we now have a simple, concrete procedure that a staff member can rely on when a difficult crisis occurs among one or more students. It is important – both for students and staff – that everyone knows how to act if a crisis hits, says the pro-rector.

With the new crisis assistance, a student or year group in crisis can get emergency help from an external crisis corps of psychologists affiliated with AAU in Aalborg, Esbjerg and Copenhagen. Up to five hours are allocated per referral, which is the same number as AAU crisis assistance for staff.

The conditions for using the scheme are:

• The coverage of expenses for psychological crisis assistance is approved at least at the head of studies level.
• The crisis arose in direct connection with or in relation to the degree programme.
• The crisis impacts the student(s) ability to maintain their studies.
• The crisis cannot be handled by AAU's existing system, e.g. AAU Student Guidance, University Pastors or the Student Counselling Service.