University of Guelph Grad Student Support Circle (GSSC)

About the Grad Student Support Circle (GSSC)

The GSSC is a weekly meeting of graduate students across all faculties for mutual peer support, in connection with the Student Support Network. It offers an opportunity for connection among graduate students and a safe space to talk about the joys and challenges that are unique to grad studies that can be difficult or unsatisfying to talk about with colleagues, family or friends outside of this specific academic environment.

Circles will begin on February 8, 2024 and run for 10 weeks until April 18. This semester (W24) the circle will be running on Thursdays from noon-1:00pm.

GSSC circles are open to all graduate students, including those currently on a leave of absence.

While the GSSC is not a professional counselling service, we do offer a confidential and supportive group environment where students can talk through whatever they're experiencing as graduate students, hear perspectives from others, and discuss life in general. Circles run each semester for 10 weeks.

How to join circle:

Registration is required for participation. You can fill out our registration form to join and ask any questions you may have. A member of our facilitator team will contact you with the session connection details afterwards.

Interested in being a facilitator?

Do you value mental health in grad school? Looking to build your leadership and small group facilitation skills? The GSSC is looking for grad students to join our team as facilitators to run circles, help build a greater sense of community with grad students across the university, and provide a safe and supportive environment for participants. This is a minimal time commitment role (max 2 hours per week) with the flexibility to fit within your schedule.

We seek to have a diverse team that is representative of our student population. We welcome applications from all graduate students, including international, part-time, transfer and mature students, from all identity backgrounds. We also seek to represent different programs and degree completion status (e.g. masters and Ph.D., just starting/a couple of semesters in/near defending) on the full facilitator team.

If you’re interested, fill out our application form. If you have any questions you can email us at grad.circle@uoguelph.ca.