Postgraduate students at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) are unsatisfied with the mental health support offered to students. We have found that resources allocated to mental health support, through the Wellness Centre, are insufficient to meet the needs of students. There are 3-5 staff members serving a student body of +18,500 people. This lack of adequate staffing and wellness centre resources results in drastically long wait times (sometimes more than 3-4 weeks), and poor therapeutic relationships as students bounce between counsellors based on availability and need. Mental health services at WLU are limited to the Waterloo campus and there is no support offered on the Kitchener campus, despite the concentration of postgraduate students at that location.
With on-campus services being so restrictive, students are turning to outside community resources. However, despite postgraduate students being part of the larger student body and tuition fees similar to other WLU undergraduate programs, insurance coverage offered to postgraduate students remains drastically lower than that offered to undergraduates. Insurance coverage provided by Student Care to postgraduates is insufficient to cover off-campus mental health supports, without a significant financial contribution from students. WLUGSA justifies the lack of coverage by the fact that there are fewer postgraduate students and that the current plan offers birth control coverage to postgraduates. In light of the growing mental health needs of postgraduates in Canada, insufficient insurance forces students to choose between preventative self-care and other basic needs.
We would like to see increased access to mental health services for postgraduate students by reinforcing the wellness centre’s capacity to serve the growing student population. We would also like campus specific resources allocated to the Kitchener campus and its postgraduate students. Additionally we advocate for better insurance coverage for all Laurier students. These small steps will allow students to prioritize preventative self-care and contribute to overall improved student outcomes.
Updates
November 23, 2018
The stories shared by students about their experiences with the Wellness Centre continue to surface and they are exhausting to read. I have been spending my nights drafting formal requests for a meeting with the administration to address the gaps in our insurance coverage. This process is slow and often feels like fighting a wall but we are not stepping back now.
6 Comments
Hi Jane! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Do you know where I can find the contract we had to acknowledge in the portal? I can't seem to find it. Thanks! Krystal
For some reason, my signature is not showing up, so I'll sign again. I also want to publicly share that Health Services does not have a staff psychiatrist; when questioned about this, they reported that their previous psychiatrist left two weeks into the semester, and, as of October, they had no plans for a replacement.
Surely in a program full of counselors and experts in mental health supports Laurier could find some ways to provide counselling and mental health supports? ..while I'm here, the services at the Wellness Centre are geared towards undergrad aged students, and often are not appropriate for grad students in their 30s and 40s.
I completed my undergraduate degree at Laurier and once I became a grad student I was shocked at the lower insurance coverage! I have been paying out of pocket for mental health supports the whole duration of my MSW.
$30 per session for therapists is a very meagre amount, and barely makes a dent in out-of-pocket expenses for off-campus mental health supports. This needs to be changed!!!
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Postgraduate students at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) are unsatisfied with the mental health support offered to students. We have found that resources allocated to mental health support, through the Wellness Centre, are insufficient to meet the needs of students. There are 3-5 staff members serving a student body of +18,500 people. This lack of adequate staffing and wellness centre resources results in drastically long wait times (sometimes more than 3-4 weeks), and poor therapeutic relationships as students bounce between counsellors based on availability and need. Mental health services at WLU are limited to the Waterloo campus and there is no support offered on the Kitchener campus, despite the concentration of postgraduate students at that location.
With on-campus services being so restrictive, students are turning to outside community resources. However, despite postgraduate students being part of the larger student body and tuition fees similar to other WLU undergraduate programs, insurance coverage offered to postgraduate students remains drastically lower than that offered to undergraduates. Insurance coverage provided by Student Care to postgraduates is insufficient to cover off-campus mental health supports, without a significant financial contribution from students. WLUGSA justifies the lack of coverage by the fact that there are fewer postgraduate students and that the current plan offers birth control coverage to postgraduates. In light of the growing mental health needs of postgraduates in Canada, insufficient insurance forces students to choose between preventative self-care and other basic needs.
We would like to see increased access to mental health services for postgraduate students by reinforcing the wellness centre’s capacity to serve the growing student population. We would also like campus specific resources allocated to the Kitchener campus and its postgraduate students. Additionally we advocate for better insurance coverage for all Laurier students. These small steps will allow students to prioritize preventative self-care and contribute to overall improved student outcomes.
Updates
November 23, 2018
The stories shared by students about their experiences with the Wellness Centre continue to surface and they are exhausting to read. I have been spending my nights drafting formal requests for a meeting with the administration to address the gaps in our insurance coverage. This process is slow and often feels like fighting a wall but we are not stepping back now.
6 Comments
If everyone looks on the portal for field placement and the contract we had to acknowledge, the first clause stipulates that if we do in fact use on campus mental health services, we forfeit the opportunity to be employed there in future. I spoke with the head of Wellness services about this last year, and apparently previous cohorts have as well. Still no change on that front either.
Hi Jane! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Do you know where I can find the contract we had to acknowledge in the portal? I can't seem to find it. Thanks! Krystal
For some reason, my signature is not showing up, so I'll sign again. I also want to publicly share that Health Services does not have a staff psychiatrist; when questioned about this, they reported that their previous psychiatrist left two weeks into the semester, and, as of October, they had no plans for a replacement.
Surely in a program full of counselors and experts in mental health supports Laurier could find some ways to provide counselling and mental health supports? ..while I'm here, the services at the Wellness Centre are geared towards undergrad aged students, and often are not appropriate for grad students in their 30s and 40s.
I completed my undergraduate degree at Laurier and once I became a grad student I was shocked at the lower insurance coverage! I have been paying out of pocket for mental health supports the whole duration of my MSW.
$30 per session for therapists is a very meagre amount, and barely makes a dent in out-of-pocket expenses for off-campus mental health supports. This needs to be changed!!!
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If everyone looks on the portal for field placement and the contract we had to acknowledge, the first clause stipulates that if we do in fact use on campus mental health services, we forfeit the opportunity to be employed there in future. I spoke with the head of Wellness services about this last year, and apparently previous cohorts have as well. Still no change on that front either.