This article will describe critical practices for academic advisors in higher education, particularly during a time of global pandemic and crisis in the 2020-2021 academic year, prior to the widespread availability of preventative vaccines. Academic institutions at all levels transitioned to remote delivery during the lockdowns resulting from the COVID-19 global pandemic. Some such transitions were seamless while others took months to streamline to offer user-friendly and effective instructional delivery. Many administrators and educators had little time to adequately plan and prepare for this transition and others had serious deficiencies in navigating synchronous and asynchronous instructional methodologies. They simultaneously dealt with the universal upheaval of crisis, trauma, illness, fear, and death at astounding rates across communities (Daniel, 2020; Izumi et al., 2021). Students and families likewise may have had insufficient or no preparation in online instructional forums, and in impoverished communities, their access to technological devices and reliable Internet access was further limited. Achievement gaps grew wider and depression and anxiety also increased at alarming rates. To bridge these gaps, many educators and student support specialists reached beyond their job descriptions to offer a range of services, particularly in supporting students in crisis and those with special needs. Student wellness, resilience, and retention trumped curricular objectives, and the importance of academic advisement services emerged as a significant bridge to reaching students who were struggling and underserved. The functions of academic advising in maintaining rapport, screening for crisis and trauma, and providing information and resources will be reviewed (Dorn et al., 2020; Abumalloh et al., 2021).