In 2023, the Health & Wellness Centre launched two new wellness navigation advisor roles within the mental health clinic. These roles, filled by a psychotherapist and a social worker, are dedicated to helping students find personalized resources on and off campus. This includes peer support, social connections, counselling, psychotherapy or other services. Wellness Navigators also help students learn how to navigate health and wellness community systems and resources.
Next year, wellness navigators will be launching the new Finding a Therapist workshop, that will introduce students to a range of therapy and mental health support options, identifying practitioners and how to access them.
Wellness navigation advisors foster a caring and supportive environment for students to explore mental health supports and determine which ones will work best for them. One student reported:
“[the wellness navigation advisor] never made me feel judged for not knowing something or expressing interest in one choice over another. I cannot overstate how much this helped me orient myself in finding off-campus mental health resources!”
In the first year of operation, wellness navigation advisors provided more than 140 appointments to support students on their wellness journey.