Student Wellness Services takes applications for student advisory board

Eight students will be involved in improving SWS

Image by: Maia McCann
Applications are due May 1.

Following student criticism this semester, Student Wellness Services (SWS) is launching a Student Advisory Committee to help improve the service.

Initially advertised March 31 on the Queen’s University Be Well Facebook page, students who are interested in applying to the SWS Student Advisory Committee can email SWS Director Cynthia Gibney explaining why they’d like to become an advisory board member, what they think the goals for the advisory team should be, and whether they are able to commit to a minimum of one monthly meeting. Applications for the committee are due on May 1. 

“Student Wellness Services is committed to listening and responding to the needs of the students we serve. While we are always happy to get informal feedback, we believe it is important to have structured mechanisms to ensure student voices are being heard,” Gibney wrote in a statement to The Journal. 

Though students can provide feedback on their experiences with SWS through an online form, the advisory committee provides students with a platform to give feedback in a formalized, routine setting. This will allow SWS to better hear student voices, according to Gibney.

The advisory committee will be composed of SWS staff and eight student representatives. Three of these seats will be reserved for a representative from the AMS, the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS), and the Rector, while the remaining five seats will be open to the student body. 

All students on the advisory committee will be involved on a volunteer basis. 

According to Gibney, these seats will reflect a diverse range in backgrounds, lived experiences, and years of education completed at the post-secondary level to diversify the range in student voice, perspectives, and ideas being heard by SWS.  

Gibney also said information about the advisory committee has been sent out to the AMS, the SGPS, the Mental Health Working Group, Queen’s Backing Action on Climate Change (QBACC), Jack.org, and other student groups that attract a wide range of students. 

The advisory committee will determine which issues should be addressed first in making SWS more accessible to students. 

“Given this is the first year of the advisory group, the group will decide the mission, values and approach for this important advisory process.  This exercise will determine how recommendations are gathered, assessed, planned and implemented, as well as evaluated for efficacy.”

Tags

Mental health, SWS

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