Whitney Bischoff

Whitney Bischoff has been an advocate for promoting connection through social networks throughout her experience in higher education. She has worked in higher education at both public liberal arts and 2-year technical colleges for the last 10 years in Residence Life, Student Engagement, Student Success, Student Conduct, and Title IX/ADA 504 compliance. Currently, Whitney serves as the Western South Dakota Community Prevention Advisor with non-profit Lost&Found offering peer mentoring and campus-wide education and programming to promote social/emotional learning in higher education. She is also currently serving as the South Dakota Higher Education board president.

This work completely changed my life as a young, naïve, high school student at Rapid City Central back in 2009-2011 helping to steer the initial seeds of the Cobbler2Cobbler Program (including a fun song and dance traveling road show)! Mentorship, using strengths-based approaches, and suicide prevention became part of my passion for working with students throughout my career. I’ve seen the “ah-ha” moment when a student or staff member “gets it” and how impactful those moments are – but more importantly seeing them continue to ripple into the communities they are connected to. I truly believe this work can change the world, and I’m very happy to be a small part of it”.

Outcomes:

Groups became increasingly unified, exhibiting a shared commitment to healthy norms, and actively encouraged peers in help-seeking behaviors, fostering a supportive environment where every member feels valued and understood.

Social Network Health's interactive training fostered an even more dynamic relationship network. Within these groups, vulnerable members can draw strength from adaptive members, leading to more changes in who they identify as valued connections.

Schools have reported significant improvements in various metrics, including increased daily attendance, higher graduation rates, enhanced identification of Trusted Adults, greater willingness to seek help, and improved connectedness among students and staff. Additionally, school disciplinary issues have notably declined, reflecting the program's positive impact on the school climate and student well-being.

Network Enhancing Facilitation Strategies

Creating an environment for collaborative learning to develop protective strengths and networks through:

From Individual To Group Focus

Moving from a focus of individual skills to recognizing and developing group strengths.
Reflecting on how group strengths benefit individuals and the group.
Extending these benefits to the larger group.
Supports formation of key relationship and culture Intentional scaffolding.