Work With Wellness! 2023/24 Volunteer & Student Peer Helper Positions

Feb 28th, 2023

Join our Team! Student Wellness Services is Hiring Student Peer Helpers & Volunteer Positions for the 2023/24 Academic Year

These positions include Peer Helper Program & volunteer (such as the Student Support Network) roles within Wellness Education & Promotion, the Sexual & Gender-Based 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 12th 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.

Available Peer-Helper Positions:⁠

Peer Wellness Educator
Sexual Assault Free Environment (SAFE) Peer Educator
Peer Wellness Coach (USHINE)
Student Accessibility Services Peer Helper

Available Volunteer Positions:⁠

Student Support Network (SSN) Volunteer
GEM "Gryphons Empowered by Movement" Buddy Volunteer
The Body Project Workshop Facilitator
Wellness Education & Promotion Centre Volunteer

Peer Helper Positions:

Peer Wellness Educator (10 hours/week)

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=112053

As a Peer Wellness Educator, your role involves working with a team in planning wellness-related events, facilitating workshops, participating in bi-weekly group training sessions and providing UofG students with resources to support their health and well-being. We do this by:

Creating a safe space to provide information about a range of health and wellness-related topics, including but not limited to mental health, sexual health and sex education, nutritious eating, active living, body positivity, eating disorder awareness, and drugs and alcohol use.
Facilitating workshops for different clubs and organizations throughout campus on many of the topics listed above.
Developing and running events and programming for students such as sexy bingo, trivia, cookie decorating events, resource fairs, and stress busters.
Assisting students who drop into our centre looking for information or resources and referring them when necessary.
Creating online communication materials such as social media content, marketing campaigns, online articles and podcast content.
Creating and putting together information and resources such as pamphlets resource cards, information kits, self-care kits, condoms, and lube.

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

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=112062.

As a SAFE Peer Educator, your role involves facilitating opportunities for education for U of G students to learn more about sexual and gender-based violence (S&GBV) and ways to prevent it. SAFE peers deliver programming and trainings on important S&GBV prevention topics, including but not limited to: understanding S&GBV; 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 S&GBV 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 S&GBV topics listed above. Creating communication materials such as educational social media campaigns, marketing campaigns, and online articles.
Creating and disseminating information and resources such as pamphlets, resource cards, information kits, self-care kits, condoms, lube.
Assisting students who drop in looking for information or resources and refer when necessary.
Continuously (un)learning best practices for sexual and gender-based violence prevention and education.
Working collaboratively with the community and external partners in the fields of sexual and gender-based violence and transformative justice.

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

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/postings.htm?pId=112010

As a Peer Wellness Coach with the USHINE program, 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 toward 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=112048

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

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.

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

Apply at: experienceguelph.ca/notLoggedIn.htm

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. Click here to learn more about the SSN Volunteer position.

Application Deadline: March 10, 2023 at 11:59pm
Interview Dates: March 25 and 26, 2023
Mandatory Training Dates: September 5 and 6, 2023

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

Apply at: Link TBC

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 participants the ropes and allow them to experience different ways of incorporating physical activity into their lives, like walking, yoga, fitness classes, and weights. Click here to learn more about the GEM program.

The Body Project Workshop Facilitator (8 hours/semester)

Apply by emailing Rebecca Skelhorn at skelhorn@uoguelph.ca

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 (Minimum of 7 hours/semester)

Apply at: Link TBC

*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: