Hi everybody. My name is Connor Blakeborough. I'm one of the health promoters with the Student
Wellness Centre. Today, I'm going to be talking to you about the services that the Student
Wellness Centre provides to McMaster students, as well as where you can learn more about
our services. To begin, we do have social media. You can
follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook through @mcmaster.ca or you can learn more
about our services through our website which is wellness.mcmaster.ca.
To begin, we'll be talking about medical services. So, the medical services that the SWC provides
are similar to those that your family doctor might provide. With that comes the treatment
of minor illness and injury, Immunizations and screening, dressing changes and wound
care, birth control options, screening for STIs, naturopathic services, and more!
In order to book an appointment with our health team, you can call reception at 905 525 9140
at extension 27700. And just be sure you have your health card ready when you call to make
an appointment. Moving on. We also provide counselling services.
The counselling services provided by the Student Wellness Centre come at no additional cost.
They're all covered in your tuition. And you can also speak to a counsellor through booking
a 20-minute consultation appointment and in this consultation appointment, you'll talk
about what options are available to you which may include things such like one-on-one counselling,
group counselling, workshops and/or group programs, and other options. In order to book
that 20-minute consultation appointment and to book all the other options after the 20-minute
consultation appointment, you can call the same number extension 27700 and you can book
an appointment. We also have a health promotion team which
covers a variety of different programs, events, and campaigns which are aimed at supporting
student health concerns. Our team of student Peer Educators offers a range of initiatives
for undergraduate and graduate students. And our Health Promotion programming focuses on
the 6 pillars of: Mental Health, Sexual Health, Substance Abuse, Active Living, Food Literacy,
and Graduate Wellness. And to learn more about the Health Promotion programs that we
provide as well as what being a Peer Educator consists of, you can learn more through our
programs page on the website which is wellness.mcmaster.ca and at the top bar, you'll see a box that
says "programs", just click on that and you'll be able to see everything that the Student
Wellness Centre provides, program-wise. When it comes to eligibility and online access,
since we are living in the age of COVID-19, there have been some changes to accessibility
and ways that you can access the Student Wellness Centre. Individual appointments, whether they
be medical or counselling, are only available to students living within Ontario. If you
are out of province, you'll have to check with your counsellor to see if you're available
for counselling services, but that goes on a one-by-one basis and there are some exceptions
where students are able to access counselling services specifically when living outside
of Ontario. Thirdly, all the group programs and events that are available are available
to all students whether you're living inside Ontario or outside of Ontario. And lastly,
if you want to learn more about your eligibility for these services, you can visit the Accessibility
page that's linked in the slides here. And these slides will be sent around so you'll
be able to click directly on the links on the slide. If you want to learn more about
navigating virtual appointments, whether that be learning how to keep your privacy or learning
best practices for attending these virtual appointments, you can click on the FAQ page
link on the slides here and that'll take you to our website where we give you some tips
and tricks. Lastly, just want to point out some mental health resources. So, first is
Good2Talk which provides free confidential services for professional counselling and
information, as well as referrals for mental health, addictions, and well-being to all
post-secondary students. If you're looking for undergraduate-specific care, it would
be the Real Campus, which is free 24/7 support focused on psychological counselling and academic-life
services. This is available and made available to undergraduate students specifically. And
if you're looking for specific graduate student help, it would be through Empower Me which
is a 24/7 accessible counselling service which is empowering you to thrive. If you want to
read more about these resources or read about other resources, you can do so on our website
which once again is wellness.mcmaster.ca. And with that, I'll just point you to our
social media at @mcmasterswc. If you have any more questions, feel free to get in contact
with either myself or my fellow Health Promoter, Taryn, and you can do so through the website.
Thank you very much for listening and enjoy the rest of your year.