Wellbeing Learning Hub
Health and Wellbeing Peer Support
Student Integrated Health and Wellbeing is offering a series of peer support groups in collaboration with Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences.
Peer Support is described as emotional and practical support between two or more people who share a common lived experience. This can be the experience of a mental illness, mental health concern(s), or any other life event which has an impact on our overall wellbeing.
Student life brings with it the demands of academics, relationships, work, and all other facets of your life which may impact your wellbeing. Whether you're just starting university and want to learn how to promote your mental wellbeing throughout your student experience, or you're a current student and have been experiencing challenging feelings, it's important to have a space to share, feel understood, and learn skills for life which will prepare you to navigate difficult times.
In these groups, students will share, discuss, and learn about peer-informed mental health topics in a semi-structured and safe environment led by TMU's Peer Support Specialist, Connor Blakeborough, and Ontario Shores' Peer Support Specialist, Sarah Reid (learn more about the facilitators below). Read more about the group topics and how to register below.
This initiative aims to educate about mental health and wellbeing, discover or re-discover passions, promote hope, foster personal growth and empowerment, and build connections.
Navigating Life Throughout University
Date/time: Thursdays, February 2 until March 16 from 11:00-12:00 pm (excluding reading week)
Open group
Modality: In-person
Where: POD-50B
What will we do?
Working through the lifestyle changes that university brings can be challenging and impact our mental health. There is a lot to navigate and work through including building our identity, career uncertainties, relationships and more. In this course, we will discuss and learn different ways to navigate the challenges that are often encountered during university. Through a semi-structured approach, sharing and discussing our experiences, we will explore life skills and how to apply them in ways that are helpful for you and your needs. You will also have the opportunity to connect with other students who are experiencing similar challenges.
This course has been designed based on feedback from your peers as to what is relevant to the current student experience. We welcome those who have taken this course before and newcomers alike!
What will we learn?
- How to balance and prioritize the various areas of our lives including relationships, confidence building and finding support(s).
- To build skills that are relevant and useful to you in your specific circumstances, whether you’re an undergraduate or graduate student.
- How to work through times of uncertainty within your university experience
Building Helpful Habits
Date/time: Thursdays, March 9 to April 13th from 2:00PM to 3:00PM
Open group
Modality: Virtual
Where: Link to be sent to registrants
What will we do?
As school and life stressors pile up, it’s understandable that our schedule and habits begin to break down. Building helpful habits is one of many ways we can promote our own physical and mental wellbeing. In this group, we’ll dive into activities and discussions related to habit building, recognizing burnout, self-compassion and boundary setting.
This course has been designed based on feedback from your peers as to what is relevant to the current student experience. We welcome those who have taken this course before and newcomers alike!
What will we learn?
- How we can build habits, maintain them and hold ourselves accountable to them
- To identify burnout and how to prevent it as well as live with more self compassion
- How group content can be used to deal with feelings of burnout, stress, and overwhelm
- How to and the benefits of setting boundaries with ourselves and others
Connor (he/him) is TMU's Peer Support Specialist working in the department of Student Integrated Health and Wellbeing. Connor's role is to develop and facilitate peer support programming for current TMU undergraduate and graduate students. He is currently completing his Masters in Counselling Psychology, after completing his undergraduate degree and working in student health and wellbeing at McMaster University. Connor has been peer supporting for 3 years surrounding topics of depression, substance use, and bereavement.
Sarah Reid (she/her) is a Recovery College Post-Secondary Peer Support Specialist at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. Sarah's role is to partner alongside TMU staff and students to develop and facilitate peer support programming for current TMU undergraduate and graduate students. Sarah is hoping within this role to continue to educate people about mental health and open the conversation to normalize mental health as being apart of your health. Sarah completed her Bachelors degree in Therapeutic Recreation at Brock University in 2017.