Volunteer & Student Peer Helper Positions for 2022/23

Join our Team! Student Wellness Services is Hiring Student Peer Helper & Volunteer Positions for the 2022/23 Academic Year

Student Wellness Services is currently recruiting for a number of student positions for the 2022/2023 academic year! These positions include Peer Helper Program & volunteer (such as SSN) roles within Wellness Education & Promotion, the Sexual Violence Support Centre, and Student Accessibility Services.

See below for an overview of each role and the link to apply. Most applications (other than general volunteer applications) close Sunday, March 6th at 11:59pm.

Do you know any students inquiring about opportunities? Direct them to this page and feel free to contact wellness@uoguelph.ca with any questions.

Peer Helper Positions:

Peer Wellness Educator (10 hours/week)

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=98003 

As a Peer Wellness Educator your role involves planning and executing team-specific events, facilitating workshops, attending bi-weekly trainings and providing resources to fellow students in support of health and well-being. We do this by:

• Providing information about a range of health and wellness related topics, including but not limited to: mental health, sexual health, healthy eating/active living, body image and eating disorders, drugs and alcohol, LGBTQ+ issues and human rights.
• Facilitating workshops for on-campus partners on the health and wellness topics listed above.
• Developing and implementing events and programming focused on various health and wellness topics.
• Assisting students who drop in looking for information or resources and refer when necessary.
• Creating communication materials such as social media campaigns, marketing campaigns, online articles, and audio (podcast) content
• Creating and disseminating information and resources such as pamphlets, resource cards, information kits, self-care kits, condoms, lube

Sexual Assault Free Environment (SAFE) Peer Educator (10 hours/week)

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=97989 

SAFE Peer Educators provide support to U of G students through their sexual violence (SV) education and training. SAFE peers deliver programming and trainings on important SV prevention topics, including but not limited to: understanding SV, safe(r) campuses, consent culture, healthy relationships; intersectionality; supporting survivors; and bystander intervention techniques. We do this by:

• Developing and implementing awareness events and programming that covers important SV prevention and education topics.
• Using trauma-informed, intersectional, survivor-centric, and anti-oppressive frameworks in our programming and trainings.
• Facilitating workshops for on-campus partners on the SV topics listed above.
• Creating communication materials such as educational social media campaigns, marketing campaigns, and online articles.
• Assisting students who drop in looking for information or resources and refer when necessary.
• Continuously (un)learning best practices for sexual violence prevention and education.
• Working collaboratively with community and external partners in the fields of SV, gender-based violence, and transformative justice.

Peer Wellness Coach (USHINE)  (5 hours/week)

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=98005

As a Peer Wellness Coach, your role involves supporting students 1-1 to help them accomplish their well-being-related goals through the USHINE program, and connecting with students through our online WeSHINE community. We do this by:

• Supporting mentees in setting realistic and meaningful goals related to their wellbeing
• Providing accountability and supporting progress towards goals through one-to-one meetings
• Problem-solving and referring mentees to other supports as necessary
• Assist with marketing and recruitment for the program
• Contributing to our online WeSHINE community

Student Accessibility Services Peer Helper (5 hours/week)

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=97992

As a Student Accessibility Services Peer Helper you will be assisting students with disabilities with academic and practical needs in the following roles and beyond:

• Meal guides: helping students to obtain meals on-campus and join them for their meals.
• Guides: assisting students with getting to and from classes or anywhere else on campus they need to go.
• One-to-one: providing academic support to students requiring assistance with any of the following: studying, time management, organization, exam booking etc
• Social Event and Fundraising: hosting fun and interactive activities and events for SAS students with the goal of creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all.

Volunteer Positions

Student Support Network (SSN) Volunteer (7 hours/week)

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=97827

If you are a student who wants to support students who are struggling, receive extensive training in active listening and communication skills, and make a difference within the University of Guelph community, SSN might be right for you!

Successful applicants offer drop-in peer support and are extensively trained in communication and counselling skills to provide confidential, non-judgmental, and active listening support; students also provide important information and referrals to any member of the campus community. SSN Volunteers are invited to participate in this activity for experiential learning credit.

GEM Buddy - Gryphons Empowered by Movement Volunteer (3-5 hours/week)

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=97825

The Gryphons Empowered by Movement (or GEM) program is a collaboration between Student Wellness and Athletics. This peer-to-peer program is designed to help students with mild to moderate anxiety and depression through the power of physical activity, with the support and accountability provided by their Buddy, over the course of 8 weeks. Buddies will meet with participants 1 on 1 for regular physical activity sessions to show partipants the ropes and allow them to experience different ways of incorporating physical activity into their lives, like walking, yoga, fitness classes, and weights.

The Body Project Workshop Facilitator (8 hours/semester)

Apply at gryphlife.uoguelph.ca/submitter/form/start/16329 

The Body Project is a dissonance-based body-acceptance program designed to help women resist cultural pressures to conform to the appearance ideal standard of female beauty and reduce their pursuit of unrealistic bodies. The Body Project is supported by more research than any other body image program and has been found to reduce the onset of eating disorders.

The Wellness Education & Promotion Centre is recruiting peer facilitators who are passionate about health promotion and mental health prevention, specifically in the area of eating disorders, disordered eating and body image. The selected peer leaders will participate in a two-day training that will equip them with the skills to facilitate The Body Project on the U of G campus. In collaboration with other trained peer leaders, you will facilitate the Body Project for groups of 6-12 student participants. Trained peer leaders will receive support and guidance from Student Wellness Services staff.

Wellness Education & Promotion Centre Volunteer (Minimim of 7 hours/year)

Apply at gryphlife.uoguelph.ca/submitter/form/start/16327

*Positions available as early as May 2022!

Volunteering with the Wellness Education & Promotion Centre is for anybody. Whether your career interests lie in social justice, medicine, marketing, education, or counselling, the health promotion that you will do in your role as a volunteer can have an impact all over campus!

The Wellness Education & Promotion Centre’s volunteers provide support to the large-scale health promotion and wellness education programs that are offered by our parent department, Student Wellness Services. These may include, but are not limited to:

• Flu vaccine clinics
• Mass STI testing
• Awareness weeks
• Event promotion & staffing

Why Should you Volunteer?

By volunteering with such events, students can expect to gain skills such as:

• Client/patient interaction
• Confidentiality
• Marketing

If you have any questions, contact wellness@uoguelph.ca.