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Wellness & Mental Health

Student Work-Life Balance

The learning environment and support from the faculty/department/colleagues directly impacts students’ mental health. Thus, by re-shaping and altering the learning environment and campus experience, the university can play a significant role supporting success during and after graduation, as well as student wellbeing. Some of the key elements that GSS supports and aims to create include: 

  • Supporting and strengthening the student-supervisor relationship 
  • Providing an environment of understanding and comfort for students from all backgrounds/nationalities 
  • Helping students cope with academic and financial stress, providing healthy outlets for student well-being 
  • Increasing student engagement and peer support 

Campus-Wide Mental Health Strategy

The results of the most recent GSS Graduate Student Survey illustrate the complex mental health problems students face. 25% of students feel physically unable to perform in classes. 33% express concerns about mental health, with respondents attributing this added stress to various factors, including academic workload (55%), preparation for life after graduation (50%), and finances (40%). 60% of the respondents claim that they face unhealthy levels of stress, while a majority believe that this negatively affects their academic performance. 

As such, the GSS advocates for:  

  • Development of clear policies and procedures that allow students to access services and support without fear of stigma 
  • Early identification and multi-level response structure  
  • Providing a wide range of accessible mental health services 
  • Aligning institutional policies and procedures to support mental health services 
  • Creating a healthy, friendly campus environment 
  • Ensuring students are informed of all the services/programs offered at the campus

Health And Wellness Resources For Graduate Students

Student Services Health and Wellbeing

UBC Student Services Health and Wellbeing are the online resources students should approach first when faced with a health/wellness concern. Below are some of the useful features students can benefit from.

  • They have an online health support tool where people can answer questions to quickly see options specific to their needs and location instead of browsing resources aimlessly. 
  • Student Health Services: Students can visit a doctor, nurse practitioner, nurse, or other medical professional virtually or in person. 
  • Counselling Services: Students can book a Counselling appointment by phone if they are persistently stressed, anxious, or sad. Specifically, they have wellness advising appointments, same-day, single-session counselling, group counselling programs, individual counselling, indigenous students support, and embedded counselling programs. For instance, the Faculty of Medicine now has an embedded counsellor from Counselling Services dedicated explicitly to Faculty of Medicine students (not present in all departments). 
  • Nurse on Campus is a program where students can drop by in-person to ask questions or connect to resources for health and wellness topics. 

The Wellness Centre is another great resource for a number of reasons, including:

  • They provide in-person and online drop-in service, and online question submission. 
  • They have an IBPOC Wellness Mentors program, a pilot program for the 2021/22 academic year that was developed to support the specific wellbeing needs of IBPOC (Indigenous, Black, or Persons of colour) students at the UBC Vancouver campus. 
  • They have a Wellness Centre Shop where people can order inexpensive, safer sex, sexual health and sex toy products online.
  • They also have bookable workshops on wellness topics. G+PS also lists Wellness Workshops on the G+PS website. 
  • They offer free health and wellness sessions and events in person and online. 
  • Peer Support supports issues like housing, personal issues, funding, debt, academics, supervision, etc. Peer support is a direct manifestation of the GSS advocacy. It can connect students with campus partners, and by advocating for them, GSS can help students with their mental health. 
  • AMS/GSS Health & Dental Plan: Provides extended health and dental coverage, specifically designed for students to cover expenses not covered by basic health care plans. This plan covers costs such as prescription drugs, dental care, travel health coverage, vision care and more. 
  • Venue Rental: Students and campus partners can host HW workshops in the GSS Loft and Thea Koerner House. 
  • Student Services helps students directly or indirectly with their safety and health and issues. For instance, the AMS Peer Support provides free, confidential, one-on-one peer support for UBC students facing various challenges, including but not limited to mental health, depression, anxiety, etc. AMS Food Bank is an emergency food relief service for UBC students, faculty, and staff in need. 
  • AMS Ombudsperson: Provides conflict resolution services and is an impartial body. This can help students with mental health when they are under conflict-induced mental pressure. 
  • SASC: Provides free and confidential services to survivors of sexual assault. 
  • Other Resource Groups: Various resource groups focusing on LGBTQ identity, disability, justice and more.  

Many graduate students may also be working as UBC faculty or staff. UBC Human Resources also have HW resources. Specifically, they have access to the following: 

  • Occupational and Preventive Health (OPH): Provides confidential and free programs and services to help protect the health and safety of staff, faculty and paid students working both on and off-campus, including UBC Okanagan and hospital sites. 
  • Ergonomics: The proper ergonomic design of our workspaces can minimize the risk of a wide range of injuries – from eye strain and carpal tunnel syndrome to persistent neck or back pain. 
  • Mental Health: Programs on distress management, consulting services, and other services to help with mental health concerns. 
  • Workplace Welling Ambassador Program: A pilot program that plays a key strategic role at UBC, supporting the Human Resources – Health, Wellbeing & Benefits team in their effort to embed wellbeing and wellbeing practices within UBC workplaces. 

UBC Wellbeing is a collaborative effort to make the University a better place to live, work and learn through a systems-wide approach to wellbeing across our campuses. The work of UBC Wellbeing is guided by the Okanagan Charter, a shared call to action for partners, leaders, and community members to make campuses become health-promoting institutions. 

  • Inclusive Physical Activity Toolkit: Includes information on bodyworks, accessible programs and facilities, gender identity and expression, and women’s-only opportunities. There is also a dedicated page on fostering academic tenacity through physical activity. 

EIO advances equity and human rights at UBC by promoting diversity, eliminating discrimination, and engaging the community in dialogue and action. They have a strong focus on student mental health and wellness. 

  • Human Rights Advising: Provides help with concerns related to discrimination based on one or more of the 14 grounds protected by the BC Human Rights Code and as defined by UBC’s policy SC7: Discrimination. 
  • Conflict Engagement Advising: Supports navigation and resolution of inter-personal conflicts between UBC community members; facilitates contentious group conversations within academic and non-academics units; builds capacity for having difficult conversations and building a healthy culture of conflict engagement. 
  • Training & Education: Works to engage the UBC community in creating culture change and improving systems, practices, and processes that shape how UBC students, staff, and faculty work and learn at UBC. 

The CFA facilitates disability-related accommodations and programming initiatives designed to remove barriers for students with disabilities and ongoing medical conditions. The Disability Accommodation Policy LR7 provides guidance for students, faculty, and staff to understand the process through which accommodations for students with disabilities are made at the University. 

CFA can assist with: 

  • Learn how your disability or on-going medical condition impacts your learning and participation in UBC activities  
  • Connect with an advisor if you received disability-related accommodations at your previous school 
  • Discuss your disability-related considerations for housing, funding, or admission at UBC 
  • If you’re already registered with the Centre for Accessibility but your circumstances have changed, or you need to request a new academic concession or disability accommodation 
  • Chaplains at UBC: If you’re curious about a specific faith or want to talk to someone in the religious community on campus, find a chaplain at UBC. 
  • Multifaith Prayer Rooms: UBC provides multifaith prayer rooms for UBC Vancouver students of all faiths to pray, meditate, reflect or find quiet on campus. 
  • Student-Run Organizations: The AMS has student-run religious organizations on campus if you’re interested in joining a club and talking to peers about beliefs and spirituality. 

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Thea Koerner House

604.822.3203 / info@gss.ubc.ca
452 – 6371 Crescent Road
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T1Z2

Business Hours

Monday – Friday
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

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