This phenomenological study aimed to understand the onboarding and training experiences of entry-level student affairs practitioners working in housing and residence life departments on college campuses. These practitioners were responsible for identifying, responding, and reporting student of concern incidents. With an increase of student mental health concerns on college campuses, there was a need to examine how student affairs practitioners in housing and residence life were trained in crisis response to critical incidents. There is a lack of research on how new professionals experienced their crisis response onboarding and training as a first responder in housing and residence life. This study was grounded in layering Andragogy: Adult Learning Theory, ACUHO-I Crisis Management Core Competency, and Critical Incident Technique into the conceptual framework titled Critical Incident and Crisis Strategies (CICS). Ultimately, the goal was to design and implement aligned onboarding and training curricula and procedures for new housing and residence life practitioners. By the way of thematic coding, the six themes found through interviews were (1) practitioners' perception of student of concern; (2) understanding the role of a housing and residence life first responder; (3) meaningful learning experiences; (4) institutional and campus partner support; (5) desire for personal and professional growth; and (6) personal mental health. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]