Academic advising has undergone great changes since its beginning in higher education. Modern educators recognize academic advising as one of the best ways to assist the personal, intellectual, and social development of learners. Advising as a service to students links students’ academic and personal worlds; therefore, advising cultivates holistic development. On the other hand, many people know little about academic advisors or specifically to what degree advisors use a method described as developmental. This descriptive study inspected effective techniques of developmental advising with adult at-risk students in a community college setting. Without effective techniques and strategies in developmental advising, the college experience of adult at-risk students can suffer. The study used qualitative research designed to assess advisors' perceptions of effective techniques of developmental advising. A mixed methods survey tool and open-ended questions elicited data from a sample of 300 academic faculty and non-faculty (student support services) advisors. The study construction reflected previous research on developmental advising with updated survey items on current practices added. The survey and open-ended questions concentrated on advisors’ perceptions of their role as advisors, including advising tasks and skills, barriers to effective developmental advising, and advisor’s characteristics. The summary of findings led to the conclusion that faculty failed to practice some of the dimensions of developmental advising techniques with adult at-risk students at the level of importance they placed upon them.