Wellness and Counselling

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Our Approach to Personal, Social, and Health and Economic Education

Our students live in a stimulating environment with a challenging curriculum, cultural diversity, and myriad opportunities. At MUWCI, they must make new friends and steer personal growth while balancing academic requirements. Their personal, social, and mental wellbeing are thus key to a valuable college experience.

Our approach to mental health is precautionary — we want to help students identify issues early before they become overwhelming. There are multiple resources to help students cope with challenges, including students’ advisors, wada parents, peer support group, on-campus counsellor, and local psychologist and psychiatrist support. Our students can approach any — or all — of them for help at any time. All first-year students take a personal, social, and health education course to help cultivate compassionate, respectful relationships with others and themselves.

Counselling Support

We have a full-time counsellor on campus who is available for every student. You are encouraged to approach the counsellor any time you want guidance or help. Your conversations are entirely confidential, and the counsellor can only break confidentiality if they believe a student is in danger of harming themselves or another student. You can sign up for weekly group counselling sessions, where you will learn stress reduction and health and wellness techniques. We also have a visiting clinical psychologist whom you can talk to. The clinical psychologist is bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the counsellor and visits campus once a week.

Peer Support Group

If you are not comfortable talking to a staff member and would prefer to speak to another student, you can approach a member of our Peer Support Group. This is an informal group of students that has received training and is a valuable resource for the community. Like the counsellor, PSG members will keep your conversations confidential. However, if a student thinks of harming themselves or another student, a PSG member will notify the appropriate staff members so that the student in question gets the professional help they need.

Feedback

Through PSG, we're trying to create an easily accessible and wide net of support that works with both individuals and groups on campus, creating a safe space to share feelings with one of your peers confidentially.

Anna Micelli PSG Facilitator, Class of '20

Advisor Curriculum

Every student is assigned a faculty advisor who will help you adjust to life on campus, both personally and academically. Your advisor isn’t just there to track your progress in class — you will work together on many areas of life at MUWCI, from maintaining a work-life balance and developing healthful eating/sleeping habits to living harmoniously and building healthy relationships with yourself and others. You will meet with your advisor both one-on-one and as part of a group of 9 or 10 students that meets weekly to discuss college events and issues. Advisor groups often have a family-like feeling due to bonds formed with your faculty advisor and peers over evening teas, excursions to the city, and home-cooked dinners.

Reflections & Self-evaluation

We encourage every student to take the time to reflect on their growth and performance on a regular basis. Self-evaluation of your MUWCI journey will help you understand where you might need assistance and make the most of your time on campus. We encourage students to engage in a physical activity every morning (go for a walk, do yoga, swim) and spend the evenings reflecting (meditate, keep a journal, blog). At night, it’s important to take time to wind down and sleep with a calm mind.

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2-Year Programme