The transition from high school to university can be tough. Moving from a structured school environment to one with strange class times, no teachers chasing you down for homework, and less friends to pick you up when you’re feeling down is rough, and sometimes you might need help. There are resources to help you help yourself.</p>
If you or anybody you know is at risk of harming themselves or anybody else, please call 911 or a crisis line. Remember, your health and well-being is more important than any test, exam, or homework assignment.
Health Services (UW’s medical care services) and Counselling Services (psychological services) are two parts of the mental health services team at Waterloo.
Counselling Services provides students with free access to a psychologist, workshops, group therapy, and several peer support programs for students. To access the services, you can fill out a simple questionnaire about yourself and what you’d like to get help with and the urgency that you need it. Counselling Services offers immediate crisis care as well as intermittent help throughout the term.
You do not have to be diagnosed with a mental illness to access Counselling Services. While Counselling Services’ new office is in the new part of Needles Hall on the second floor, they have offices and hours across UW. At press time, 10 hours per school year of counselling are available to every student.
Health Services connects you with medical professionals that provide psychiatric consultation and psychological services. The general practitioners at Health Services can refer you to psychiatric care, sleep health, and crisis intervention.
Counselling Services and Health Services can share notes to be a comprehensive team — however, this is something you can opt out of if you are not comfortable.
Test anxiety? Problems with time management? The Student Success Office in South Campus Hall offers study skills workshops. These workshops last 1.5 hours and teach different study skills. If you’re finding it difficult to transition from high school to university, these workshops will help you develop the study, test, and time-management skills that you will need to be successful.
While UW has many services available to its students, the Kitchener-Waterloo region also has tools in place to guide students and the community to different programs. Here 24/7 is a mental health central service provider with access to addiction, mental health, and crisis services in the Waterloo region. It is run by Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington Dufferin Crisis Services. The service has a distress phone line, and can dispatch a mobile team at all hours.
The Grand River Hospital (on King Street, you can access it with a short ride on the 200 iXpress) can offer emergency mental health services through their emergency department and on-call psychiatrist.
The Delton Glebe Counselling Centre offers counselling at a sliding-fee scale based on what you can afford. KW Counselling Services also offers income level-based fees. The Feds’ health plan covers 80 per cent of the costs of seeing a psychologist at up to $400 per calendar year.
Contact Information
Counselling Services: 519-888-4567, x32655
Health Services, Mental Health: 519-888-4567, x31976
Here24/7: 1 844 437 3247
Grand River Hospital: 519 742 3611
Delton Glebe Counselling Centre: 519 884 3305
KW Counselling Services: 519 884 0000
